The United States sanctioned a Chinese network this Tuesday for supplying substances to drug traffickers, such as Mexican cartels, to manufacture fentanyl. and other drugs, in a blow to a chain that wreaks havoc in the country and weighs down relations with Mexico.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) targeted 28 people and companies, all based in China except three, based in Canada, for being “involved in the international proliferation of drugs,” the Treasury Department reported this Tuesday.
This year the Democratic President Joe Biden’s government has proposed combating global chains of fentalino, a synthetic opioid manufactured according to Washington by two Mexican cartels: Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación, two of the recipients of the substances (precursors) produced by the sanctioned network.
Fentanyl has become a burden in relations with its neighbor, Mexico, accused especially by Republicans of not doing enough against trafficking of this opioid.
The Treasury is taking steps to “disrupt a network responsible for the manufacturing and distribution of drugs” that kill tens of thousands of Americans each year, Treasury Undersecretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement.
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Among the drugs that the government is most concerned about is xylazine, also known as tranq. This veterinary sedative and analgesic, which is consumed mixed, for example, with fentanyl, has been nicknamed the zombie drug due to the terrible wounds it causes, including necrosis.
“The networks attacked today have been involved in the trafficking of xylazine and nitacenes,” another synthetic opioid, Treasury states.
Nitacenes are not approved for medical use in the United States and some of them are much more potent than fentanyl, which is already 100 times stronger than morphine and 50 times stronger than heroin.
Among the people sanctioned this Tuesday, Wang Shucheng and Du Changgen stand out, key members of a Chinese organization, as well as their subordinates.
Washington claims that Wang ordered others since 2016 to create companies to use as a front for the global pharmaceutical trade.
Du is, for his part, one of the most powerful people in the organization, says the Treasury.
Under the command of Du, the organization is responsible for having manufactured and distributed tons of precursors of nitacenes, fentanyl, metphentamines and ecstasy (Molly or MDMA).
The network is a “source of supply” for many drug traffickers based in the United States, dark web sellers, virtual currency money launderers and criminal organizations based in Mexico, the Treasury added.
Du Changgen and those operating under his command have been responsible for approximately 900 kilograms of fentanyl precursors
“Du Changgen and the people operating under his command have been responsible for approximately 900 kilos of seized fentanyl and methamphetamine precursors” after being sent to the United States and Mexico, he says.
Washington accuses Du, as leader of the organization, of supervising China-based sales teams that communicate with his accomplices through encrypted messages.
These groups send and receive funds through virtual currency, bank transfers, and other types of transactions.
As a result of the sanctions, all assets and interests in assets of those sanctioned that are in the United States or that are in the power or control of Americans are blocked.
AFP
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