Reported by Paulina Villegas and Maria Abi-Habib

(Excerpt shown below. To read entire article, go to: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/09/world/americas/fentanyl-us-mexico-route-cartel-smuggling.html)

New York Times reporters documented how fentanyl was concealed by Mexico’s most powerful criminal syndicate, which is adapting in the face of a crackdown by two governments.

The fentanyl packer moved with precision, his headlamp casting a sharp glow on the swift work of his gloved hands.

Hoodless carcasses of old vehicles sat gutted under a pitch-black sky. Car jacks, coils and greasy rags littered the ground.

The man sprayed six aluminum-wrapped packets with a liquid that smelled like chlorine, a compound that he said would help disguise fentanyl from search dogs. Underneath the foil, the deadly drug was wrapped in carbon paper to try to avoid basic methods of X-ray detection, he said.

The 58-year-old man, a mechanic by day and drug packer by night, had been working for the Sinaloa Cartel for over 20 years, fixing and loading cars with cocaine, meth and now fentanyl.

In all of that time, he said, his job has never been as dangerous as now. “Hopefully this is my last gig,” he said.

The cartel, which as one of the world’s most formidable drug syndicates had once seemed immune to challengers, has been pushed into survival mode. President Trump has vowed to crush the fentanyl trade — directing the Pentagon to begin using military force against certain cartels that his administration considers terrorist organizations.

Mexico, pushed hard by Mr. Trump, has launched its own aggressive crackdown, deploying hundreds of troops to combat the Sinaloa Cartel, a U.S.-designated terrorist group. While under intense pressure from both governments, the cartel has also been plagued by infighting.

But even in that weakened state, the cartel continues to adapt. Its smugglers are shifting to smaller loads, devising creative methods and adjusting in real time to changing threats — showing how extraordinarily difficult it would be for any government to dismantle such an entrenched criminal organization.

And despite the campaign against them, cartel operatives said they had no intention of giving up the trade. Most expressed no compunction over the devastating toll in the United States, where fentanyl has fueled an addiction crisis and become a leading cause of death.

Those operatives said that they were simply running a business, and argued that if they did not meet the American demand, someone else would.