China’s illegal opioids enter US through Postal Service gaps — Probe

WASHINGTON: Illegal shipments of the powerful and addictive opioid fentanyl are pouring into the US by mail from China and the US Postal Service must step up the use of high-tech detection methods to fight the problem, according to a congressional report unveiled on Wednesday.

A year-long probe by a Senate Homeland Security and GovernmentAffairsinvestigations subcommittee found there is easy access for buyers in the US to purchase fentanyl, often in relatively large quantities, through the internet.

The drugs are mailed by ‘labs’in China to individuals who consume them or to middlemen who dilute them for resale.

Investigators refused to divulge the names of the labs.

According to the report, the US Postal Service has failed to widely deploy a system to capture ‘advanced electronic data’ about packages destined for American ports, which would help identify suspicious mail to be turned over to US Customs and Border Protection agents.

Staff of the Permanent Investigations Subcommittee said they focused on six ‘very responsive’ providers in China, out of hundreds of pages of websites offering fentanyl for sale.

The result was the identification of500onlinetransactionsinvolving fentanyl, mainly in powder form, with a street value of about US$766 million.

US fatalities linked to opioids including fentanyl have been rising dramatically and totalled more than 42,000 in 2016, according to government data.

Online sales from China tracked by the Senate investigators were linked to seven confirmed synthetic opioid-related deaths in the US, they said.

The investigation was overseen by Republican Senator Rob PortmanofOhio,thesubcommittee chairman, and Senator Tom Carper of Delaware, the panel’s senior Democrat.

Investigators said the Chinese sellers were eager to ship the fentanylusingExpressMailService, which operates worldwide through each country’s postal operations, including the US Postal Service.

Surcharges are applied, the investigators said, for customers demanding shipment through private delivery services, such as FedEx, DHL and United Parcel Service, because of the greater likelihood the goods would be seized.

The Senate investigation concluded that the US Postal Service received advanced electronic data on 36 per cent of all international packages, meaning about 318 million parcels last year were not monitored. — Reuters