New Focus on Fentanyl Shipments Having Minimal Effect on Commercial Cargo

Despite an increased focus on illegal fentanyl shipments at the federal level, the effects so far on commercial cargo have been minimal, Frank Russo, acting director of CBP’s New York Field Operations, said in an April 23 interview. "We've done a pretty good job of identifying the threat in the mail environment," said Russo, who is overseeing CBP's efforts to prevent illegal entries of the drug. "When it comes to the express world, you know DHL, FedEx, UPS, we haven't really seen too much of it there. It's mainly been something that's been more in the mail facility." Such issues are almost nonexistent through commercial cargo modes in air or ocean shipments, he said.

Most of the illegal fentanyl is coming from China and Hong Kong, though "we have started to see it a little bit from Canada," he said. "While we do look in the regular cargo environment for it as well, we have yet to really see it there, it's really been predominantly through the mail facility." Much of the illegal fentanyl can come in small quantities because of higher purity levels when it's coming from China and Hong Kong, he said. On the Southwest border, purity levels range from around 20 percent to 30 percent, whereas Chinese fentanyl will often range from 90 percent to 95 percent in purity, he said. "With 150 grams of fentanyl, you can do a lot of damage, so that's why we're not really seeing it in the cargo environment, because those are larger shipments."

Fighting these illegal shipments of fentanyl and opioids has become the "number one priority," Russo said. "So much so we've redirected resources to the mail facility" and partnered with law enforcement partners, he said. At John F. Kennedy Airport, which processes about 60 percent of international mail shipments, CBP nearly doubled the number of officers dedicated to the mail facility to about 80 since opioid shipments became a priority, Russo said. That shift has not really affected cargo operations, he said. CBP has seized more than 180 shipments so far this year at JFK, up from just seven fentanyl shipment seizures in 2016, he said. That reflects improved processes and more data.

The biggest impediment to CBP's targeting efforts is the lack of advance data, which is something that isn't required for mail, he said. "For the most part, CBP operates sort of in the blind in the mail facility," he said. "We target shipments based on the country of interest, we have some electronic data we receive from certain countries -- China being one of them -- but it's nowhere near the type of electronic data we receive in the cargo or passenger environment." CBP would like Congress to pass a law to require all countries to provide advance information for mail, he said.