The U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions Tuesday against two Mexican companies, an ice cream chain and a local pharmacy, for allegedly using proceeds from fentanyl trafficking to fund operations linked to the Sinaloa Cartel.
The move comes as rival cartel factions Deadly conflict The sudden arrest in the United States of the Sinaloa Cartel’s co-founder has sparked a clash of opinions between authorities and those involved in the group. Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada A power struggle is believed to have broken out within the group in late July.
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which polices illicit funds and money laundering, said the individuals charged with money laundering had started a chain of ice cream and popsicle stores in the state of Sinaloa.
The Sinaloa Cartel uses profits from the international drug trade to set up its operations and fund everything it does. Fraudulent timeshare management He goes to restaurants to launder money.
OFAC said another individual used drug proceeds to open a pharmacy and convenience store in the northern state of Sonora.
“President Biden and Vice President Harris are committed to using all available tools to fight the drug cartels that are poisoning our communities with fentanyl and other deadly drugs,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement.
The sanctions came days after the United States denied accusations by Mexico’s president that it contributed to an escalation of drug cartel violence in the state of Sinaloa that has left dozens dead.
The cartels are responsible for the majority of fentanyl trafficking into the U.S. They smuggle it into the U.S. from China and India, where it is used as a chemical precursor to make the synthetic opioid, which causes about 70,000 overdose deaths in the U.S. annually.
According to the U.S. Treasury Department, Jesus Norberto Larrañaga Herrera and Carla Gabriela Lizarraga Sánchez, known as “El 30,” used drug profits to set up Nieves y Paletas, an ice cream chain with several stores near the capital.
OFAC said the pharmacies and convenience stores in Sonora state have ties to drug trafficker Jose Arnoldo Morgan Huerta, known as “Chachio,” whose brother, Juan Carlos Morgan Huerta, known as “Cacayo,” is the “plaza boss” of the Sinaloa cartel and controls drug trafficking in the border city of Nogales.
“Today’s action is part of a whole-of-government effort to counter the global threat of illicit drug smuggling into the United States, which causes the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans each year and countless more non-fatal overdoses,” the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement.
The Treasury Department also said on Tuesday Curran del Golfo, Colombia CDG is a major drug trafficking network.
“The Gulf Clan is one of the largest drug trafficking organizations in the country and a major component of human trafficking through the Darien Valley,” authorities said in a statement.
In July, US President Joe Biden warned about the ongoing Drug epidemicThese include lobbying Congress to pass legislation that would establish a registration system for pill presses and tablet presses and increase penalties for convicted drug traffickers and fentanyl traffickers.
America’s Opioid Epidemic
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