The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced eight indictments against Chinese fentanyl supply chain producers, including 12 individuals and eight companies.
Officials accuse the involved parties and entities of engaging in international schemes to sell and ship chemicals that are used to produce fentanyl and other deadly drugs across the world into the United States.
Chinese Fentanyl Supply Chain
The indictments were unsealed in the Middle and Southern Districts of Florida and they describe an increasingly common and dangerous global fentanyl supply chain. It argues that chemical companies and executives mainly based in China allegedly manufacture and distribute the chemical building blocks of fentanyl and other drugs and sell them to crime syndicates.
In a statement, Attorney General Merrick Garland said that fentanyl is known as the deadliest drug threat that the U.S. has ever faced. He added that they now know the ones who are responsible for poisoning the American people with the drug as well as for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, as per CBS News.
Garland noted that this is a cartel-driven fentanyl trafficking network that stretches across various countries and continents. The indictments noted that some of the defendants in the case, none of whom have been taken into custody, used deceptive practices such as fake shipping labels, false postage stamps, and fraudulent invoices.
These were tactics that they used to bypass customs agents and import the chemicals directly into the United States as well as into Mexico. The suspects are accused of openly selling the chemicals online and even touting their ability to safely ship the precursor chemicals without alerting law enforcement personnel.
The charges that were announced on Tuesday also centered around individuals and businesses that are allegedly involved in the trafficking of xylazine and "nitazenes" into the U.S. These are potent chemicals that are sometimes used as veterinary sedatives that can be mixed with fentanyl.
Overdose Crisis
American officials described the recent actions as the latest effort in their fight against what is considered to be the deadliest overdose crisis in the history of the United States. The situation comes one day before senior administration officials are set to visit Mexico, whose drug cartels are part of the global trafficking network, according to Yahoo News.
During a news conference, Garland said that the network includes the cartels' leaders, their traffickers, money launderers, clandestine lab operators, security forces, weapons suppliers, and chemical suppliers.
The Treasury Department also announced sanctions against 28 people and companies, mostly in China but some also in Canada. They would take them off the U.S. financial system and bar anyone in the U.S. from doing business with them.
Garland said that the indictments are meant to deliver a message on behalf of the United States government to all ones responsible for the overdose crisis. He added that the global fentanyl supply chain ends with the deaths of Americans and usually starts with chemical companies that are located in China.
On the other hand, a spokesperson for China's embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, said that Beijing strongly condemned the move on Tuesday. They noted that the Chinese government takes a firm stance on counter-narcotics, said Reuters.
