LAWRENCE — The feds just ripped the mask off a cartel invasion hiding in plain sight, hauling in 49 Sinaloa soldiers from Massachusetts streets in a week-long siege that netted 171 arrests across New England.

Massachusetts was the epicenter — 49 alleged operatives bagged in one sweep with many arrests happening in Lawrence. New Hampshire saw 33 more, and Connecticut exploded with 64 takedowns. The message was unmistakable: the world’s most ruthless cartel isn’t creeping into the region, it’s entrenched here.

The spoils told the story. Agents seized 22,000 counterfeit pills, purple fentanyl powder, and even packaging stamped with the Sinaloa logo — a brazen cartel signature left like graffiti on the drug war.

Officials branded the syndicate “public enemy number one in New England” and warned that the fake pills flooding the Bay State are indistinguishable from the real thing — killer doses disguised as oxycodone and Adderall, pushed at kids through their phones.

It’s a deadly masquerade where even trained agents can’t tell the difference — and the stakes are nothing less than life and death.

Yet even as federal agents drag cartel foot soldiers into cuffs, Beacon Hill politicians shield the network with sanctuary laws, forcing cops to fight with one hand tied behind their backs.

One week, 171 arrests, 49 in Massachusetts alone — and the fight is far from over. The cartel isn’t just knocking at the door. They’re already inside.