Biden administration sanctions Mexican drug cartel network for supplying and operating fentanyl labs

The Biden administration on Wednesday sanctioned a community of Sinaloa Cartel members and related entities for his or her involvement within the unlawful and lethal fentanyl and methamphetamine commerce, offering chemical compounds to “tremendous labs” that produce illicit medicine for the cartel as soon as run by the infamous drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán.

Along with sanctioning the 2 brothers operating the community – Ludim Zamudio Lerma and Luis Alfonso Zamudio Lerma – the US Treasury additionally designated 4 different Mexican nationals and Sinaloa Cartel members in addition to six Mexico-based corporations.

“The Zamudio Lerma brothers and their community allow the manufacturing of artificial medicine that devastate American lives, whereas lining the pockets of Sinaloa Cartel management,” mentioned Andrea Gacki, director of the Workplace of Overseas Property Management at Treasury. “Depriving this community of entry and assets will hinder the Sinaloa Cartel’s means to provide and site visitors the illicit medicine it is dependent upon.”

The motion Wednesday was “coordinated carefully” with Mexican authorities and is a part of a government-wide effort to curb the trafficking of medication that kill hundreds of Individuals yearly, in line with a Treasury information launch.

The opposite sanctioned members of the infamous cartel embody Ludim Zamudio Lerma’s son, Ludim Zamudio Ibarra, and Luis Gerardo Flores Madrid for supplying unlawful “precursor” chemical compounds recognized for use in manufacturing illicit medicine, in addition to two lab operators: Ernesto Machado Torres and Jose Santana Arredondo Beltran, in line with the Treasury.

The six corporations sanctioned Wednesday are owned or managed by the Zamudio household and embody two corporations concerned in – or seemingly concerned in – the drug commerce in addition to two actual property companies and two import-export companies.

Whereas China was the first supply of illicit fentanyl within the US earlier than 2019, patterns modified after the Chinese language imposed stricter controls on the drug commerce, in line with the Congressional Analysis Service. Since then, Mexico-based organizations – just like the Sinaloa Cartel – supply precursor chemical compounds from China to then produce the illicit medicine in Mexican labs earlier than delivery them into the US.

The US authorities has beforehand sanctioned cartel members in addition to logistical allies used to funnel illicit medicine into the US, taking motion as not too long ago as final month to sanction fentanyl traffickers fueling the US opioid disaster.

The transfer by Treasury comes after President Joe Biden promised “sturdy penalties to crack down on fentanyl trafficking” in his State of the Union tackle earlier this month, and as many Republicans criticize the administration for not doing extra to stem the circulation of the lethal medicine.