The Biden administration announced Friday a series of broad arrests and financial sanctions intended to obstruct the production and trafficking of the synthetic opioid fentanyl and Mexican Cartel across the US border.
The Department of Justice unveiled indictments against 28 defendants, including those at the top of the notorious and vicious cartel, charging them with trafficking fentanyl, criminal use of weapons, and money laundering.
Chinese Fentanyl & Mexican Cartel That Market Precursor Chemicals
The sons of notorious drug lord Joaquin ‘El Chapo‘ Guzmán, Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar, and Jess Alfredo Guzmán Salazar are two high-ranking members of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.
The State Department also announced an unprecedented 27 rewards, one of which could be worth up to $10 million.
Both Wuhan Shuokang Biological Technology Co., Ltd, owned by Yao Huatao, and Suzhou Xiaoli Pharmatech Co., Ltd have been sanctioned by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control for selling precursor chemicals to cartel members in Mexico for the production of illegal fentanyl intended for US markets. according to the department.
Huatao was charged with conspiracy, money laundering, and trafficking in fentanyl by the Justice Department earlier this month.
Five people from China and Central America were also sanctioned by Treasury’s OFAC, including a Guatemala-based broker of precursor chemicals who was working for cartel members in Mexico.
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US Overdose Deaths Soar to Record High
According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research released in late 2022, drug overdose deaths had soared in the United States, rising fivefold in the previous two decades.
The CDC recorded a record-breaking 107,622 overdose deaths in 2021, and 71,238 of those deaths were ascribed to synthetic, illegal fentanyl-containing drugs.
The artificial opioid is 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin.
The synthetic opioid, which comes in liquid and powder form, is frequently found in other substances like heroin, cocaine, and phony prescription tablets because of its strength and affordability for illicit drug producers.
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