WASHINGTON (CN) — The Justice Department unsealed three indictments on Friday charging companies and individuals from China with selling the “building blocks” used to create fentanyl and distribute the drug within the United States.
Filed in Manhattan and Brooklyn, the federal indictments target four Chinese companies and eight individuals that are accused of having helped fuel the deadly opioid crisis. Fentanyl has become the leading cause of death for Americans between 18 and 49 years old. Drug traffickers use the highly addictive synthetic drug to maximize supply and save on costs,
Prosecutors say the companies used social media to advertise precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl, taking payment in cryptocurrency and shipping the materials to drug traffickers. The companies allegedly got around testing protocols by adding “masking” molecules that changed the materials’ chemical signature, and which can be easily removed by recipients. Packages were also mislabeled or accompanied by falsified customs forms while being shipped to the United States by boat and air, via public and private mail services.
Among those who received the raw materials, officials say, were members of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, which was formerly run by the notorious, now-jailed kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
In taking action against the cartel, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department was upholding a promise to “never forget the victims of the fentanyl epidemic."
“I also promised that we would never stop working to hold accountable those who bear responsibility for it,” Garland said in a statement. “That includes not only going after the leaders of the cartels, their drug and gun traffickers, their money launderers, security forces, and clandestine lab operators. It also includes stopping the Chinese chemical companies that are supplying the cartels with the building blocks they need to manufacture deadly fentanyl.”
In the Eastern District of New York — where El Chapo was brought to justice — two indictments name the companies Anhui Rencheng Technology Co., Anhui Moker New Material Technology Co. and Hefei GSK Trade Co., along with five executives who remain at large.
Just across the East River, an indictment filed in the Southern District of New York charges East Hubei Amarvel Biotech Co. and three of its executives with fentanyl trafficking, precursor chemical importation and money laundering. Two of the executives were arrested earlier this month and appeared in court in Honolulu.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials announced Thursday that a two-month campaign at the border with Mexico blocked nearly 10,000 pounds of fentanyl from entering the United States and led to 284 arrests.
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