U.S. charges Sinaloa Cartel leaders, Chinese firms in fentanyl crackdown

The U.S. charged on Friday several leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel with illicitly producing fentanyl and distributing it in Mexico's northern neighbor, further sanctioning several entities in China for allegedly supplying the precuror chemicals to make the drug.

The charges, which were unsealed in the Southern District of New York, the Northern District of Illinois, and Washington, DC, include fentanyl trafficking, weapons offenses, and money laundering.

In all, 28 individuals allegedly associated with the Sinaloa Cartel are being charged, including four sons of notorious drug trafficker Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. The individuals, known as "Chapitos" are listed as Ivan Guzman Salazar, Alfredo Guzman Salazar, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, and Ovidio Guzman Lopez.

Also charged are China-based suppliers who have allegedly supplied fentanyl precursors to the cartel, a Guatemala-based intermediary who does the purchasing on behalf of the Cartel, lab operators, leaders of the cartel's security forces and money launderers, according to the Justice Department.

Eight of the suspects are in the custody of the U.S.'s "international partners," and the U.S. will seek their extradition, Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters. The U.S. is planning to "work closely" with Mexico to secure the extradition of the other defendants, he said.

"Families and communities across our country are being devastated by the fentanyl epidemic," Garland told reporters, pointing to nearly 108,000 overdose deaths from August 2021 through August 2022. Roughly two-thirds of that figure is due to the illicit use of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid many times stronger than heroin.

"These statistics are horrifying. But they do not begin to capture the reality of the loss that so many families carry with them every day because of the fentanyl epidemic," added Garland.

The indictment describes gruesome alleged details of the Sinaloa Cartel's operations, including forcing individuals to shoot up fentanyl, sometimes to the point of death, torturing and killing victims, including feeding live victims to tigers.

In addition to the prosecutions being launched by the Justice Department, the Treasury Department separately announced sanctions against two China-based entities and five individuals in China and Guatemala for supplying precurors to the cartel.

Those sanctioned include Wuhan Shuokang Biological Technology, and its owner, Yao Huatao, as well as three other Chinese individuals associated with the firm, the department said. Petrochemical company Suzhou Xiaoli Pharmatech is also being sanctioned for shipping 25 kilograms of N-BOC-4-Piperidone, a fentanyl precursor, to Guadalajara, Mexico.

Ana Gabriela Rubio Zea, the Guatemala-based alleged fentanyl precursor broker, was also sanctioned for facilitating the Piperidone sale.