A recent investigation published by Wall Street Journal It reveals how China has been key in the fentanyl business. Not only as an ingredient provider for drug manufacturing, but also as a laundry of “dirty” money from the illegal sales of it.
The new finding, which affirms to half American officials, shows that Chinese money corridors They are associated with Mexican cartels for “Gate the wheels of the fentanyl trade”. A scenario that further complicates the United States struggle against opioid crisis.
According to officials of the drug control administration (DEA) they have identified this activity as part of a broader network where China’s money corridors become partners of Mexican drug cartels“facilitating the flow of dirty money through multiple transactions that make it legitimate cash.”
The modus operandi of the ‘laundry’ China
The way of operating that identified the DEA, based on the reports of the ‘Operation Fortune Runner’, treats that the money corridors, which operate from the shadows, use intermediaries to collect drug dealers. Through platforms such as Wechat, these runners offer dollars to Chinese clients who want to invest in real estate or make financial transactions in the United States. The result is that drug traffickers get “clean” money, while US authorities fight to dismantle this complex network.
The money laundering process involves a Series of transactions that convert the cash obtained from the sale of fentanyl into yuan and vice versa. This allows associated criminal networks to bleach their profits and reinvest in their operations, further complicating the efforts of the authorities to cut the flow of money and drugs.
The APA investigation culminated in the accusation of 24 people, involving more than 50 million dollars, 47.9 million euros to change, in drug trafficking profits. This collaboration between Mexican cartels and Chinese money corridors represents a significant challenge for US authorities, who have focused their efforts on interrupting the flow of fentanyl and their precursors, without thoroughly addressing money laundering.
The statements of the DEA officials who give life to the investigation reveal the magnitude of the problem, estimating that the Global sales of this drug reach between 500,000 and 750,000 million dollars annuallywith a considerable portion of this money lazarded by Chinese networks.
For its part, the Chinese government has dismissed the accusations, suggesting that “The root of the fentanyl crisis is found in the United States and that cooperation is essential to address the problem. “
Along these lines, China’s Embassy in Mexico asked the US government stop blaming, slander and defame other countries for the crisis of consumption of that drug In the country governed by Trump.
“We have taken note that recently, the United States embassy in Mexico criticized in its X account that the precursors of the US fentanyl come from China, with which with which He is blaming foreign country“The China Embassy in Mexico said in a statement.” China is one of the countries with the strictest and most rigorously implemented anti -drug policies in the world, “added the diplomatic entity.
Although the US authorities have made a huge campaign to stop this public health problem, this type of money laundering systems used by drug cartels, and that are facilitated by Chinese money corridors, It allows these criminal organizations to maintain their active operations.
The sale of fentanyl ingredients by cryptocurrency
While this occurs in the business of this drug, another axis opens that hinders the efforts to stop the production of fentanyl. And, that chemical producers in China have started accepting cryptocurrencies as a payment methodfurther facilitating access to these dangerous ingredients.
This scenario host not only deals with a matter of supply, but a dark money laundering system that Allows drug cartels to operate with a certain degree of “impunity” in a business that does not stop growing in the North American country.
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