The United States has indicted leaders of the Mexico-based Sinaloa cartel for carrying out a fentanyl trafficking operation fueled by Chinese chemical and pharmaceutical companies, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Friday.
Garland said three sons of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, who are currently imprisoned in the United States, have been indicted.
One of his sons, Ovidio Guzman Lopez, was arrested in Mexico and is awaiting extradition, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said.
“They know they’re poisoning and killing Americans. They don’t care because they’re making billions of dollars,” U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Director Anne Milgram said of Guzman’s sons. Told. “Their greed is shocking and boundless.”
Prosecutors also indicted four Chinese company owners who allegedly provided precursors to the cartel.
The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday also imposed sanctions on China-based chemical companies Wuhan Shuokang Biotechnology Co. and Suzhou Xoli Pharmaceutical Co.
(Reporting by Katherine Jackson in Washington and Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Jonathan Ortiz)
