Bring Fentanyl Scanners To JFK Airport, Schumer Says

JAMAICA, QUEENS -- Equipping customs officers at JFK International Airport with new fentanyl-detecting scanners could mean the difference between life and death for New Yorkers battling addiction, according to New York Senator Chuck Schumer.

Schumer was referring to a bill that passed Congress unanimously and aims to equip U.S. Customs and Border Protection with high-tech portable chemical scanners that would search suspicious packages for the deadly drug.

As Schumer awaits President Trump's signature of approval on the bill, he's already requesting the first of the equipment go to JFK airport – where he said around 40 percent of the country's seizures of fentanyl were made last year.

In a letter penned to CBP Acting Commissioner Kevin McAleenan on Sunday, Schumer asked that New York be a top priority under the law, and that international entry points and mailing services in New York City be the first to receive the $9 million in new equipment and personnel authorized under the bill once it's signed.

"New York has been particularly besieged by the drug trade, and the new detection technology is needed now more than ever to beat back the scourge of narcotics," Schumer wrote.

On top of providing handheld chemical scanners to customs officers at airports and international mail facilities and fixed scanners in CBP laboratories, the bill would also allow the CBP to employ scientists available to interpret results from the scanners at all hours of the day.

"That means narcotics, like illicit fentanyl, can be quickly detected, identified and seized on the spot—and it means our diligent screening staff is more safe because they will not have to risk their own safety to expose dangerous substances," Schumer said.

Schumer argued that JFK Airport is a major entry point for dealers smuggling fentanyl, especially from overseas. Fentanyl seizures at the airport nearly tripled to around 80 packages - around 40 percent of the country's supply of the lethal drug - in 2017, he said.

JFK's international mail center is also cause for concern, Schumer said. More than 81 pounds of fentanyl and other synthetic drugs were seized through international mail and private carriers in 2017. Roughly 60 percent of the country's international mail - around a million parcels each day - enter the JFK mail center each day.

"Until now, dealers across the world have taken advantage of CBP’s limited capabilities to screen international packages, often taking steps to mislabel shipments or conceal the drugs inside legitimate goods to avoid CBP detection," Schumer wrote.

He pointed to recent reports in October of two postal packages containing 725 grams of fentanyl arriving at the JFK Airport from Hong Kong and being sent to a home in Long Island before ultimately being seized by authorities. Fentanyl was seized at the JFK mail center 84 times from international packages in 2017, up from just 7 times in in 2016, reports showed.

As the international imports of fentanyl continue to rise, so too does the danger of the drug's varieties being shipped.

Schumer said law enforcement warnings of of newer and deadlier fentanyl-class drugs - including Carfentanil, an opioid used to tranquilize elephants - have begun to surface. Carfentanil, around 100 times more potent than regular fentanyl, has popped up across the country in New York, New England, Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania.

The deadly strains of the drug come at a time where fentanyl has already wreaked havoc on the entire country, and New York is no exception. The U.S. saw nearly 64,000 people die from overdoses in 2016, its most fatal year on record. In New York City, fentanyl contributed to 1,374 overdoses that year, more than three times that of 2015, according to the New York Health Department.

Last year, Schumer said, city agents seized enough fentanyl to kill 32 million people - the largest bust in U.S. History.

Upon listing such statistics in his plea to the CBP, Schumer concluded that bringing the new technology to JFK "could mean the difference between life and death in my home state of New York and across the country."

Lead photo via Mark Lennihan/Associated Press

Agricultural inspector Jan Michalesko works with her canine partner, Brie, during a media demonstration in a customs facility at JFK International Airport.