Opiate trafficking: Washington sanctions five Chinese entities

The United States, where the number of overdose deaths has reached records, will strengthen its arsenal in the fight against drug trafficking and in particular synthetic opiates, by targeting Chinese traffickers, announced Wednesday (December 15th). 'Biden administration.

President Joe Biden has decided to toughen the US sanctions regime against actors in international drug trafficking, which will immediately apply to a Chinese drug trafficker and four Chinese companies accused of participating in the illegal production of fentanyl, a powerful opioid summary, for the US market, according to press releases from the White House and the Treasury Department.

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"

" through two decrees, according to a document sent by his services.

One of these decrees establishes a new body, the "

," whose acronym in English will be USCTOC, and which will bring together representatives from various jurisdictions.

The other decree establishes a broader sanctions regime against international drug traffickers, whose assets in the United States may be frozen.

"Important to send a message"

In application of this new sanctions regime, the Treasury Department announced on Wednesday a series of targets: in China, but also in Brazil and Mexico. In China, the target is an individual, Chuen Fat Yip, accused of directing synthetic drug trafficking between China and the United States, as well as four companies: Wuhan Yuancheng Gongchuang Technology, Shanghai Fast-Fine Chemicals, Hebei Huanhao Biotechnology and Hebei Atun Trading. “

, ”said a senior US government official, on condition of anonymity.

In Brazil, the new American sanctions regime will apply to "

", designated as "

", whose trafficking activities drugs, money laundering, extortion and commissioned murder spread around the world. In Mexico, two criminal groups are targeted: Los Rojos and Guerreros Unidos. To this list is added a series of networks and drug traffickers in Mexico and Colombia already sanctioned since 1995 and 1999.

Between April 2020 and April 2021, the United States counted 100,306 fatal overdoses, an increase of 28.5% compared to the same period the previous year (78,056 deaths).

It is the first time that the symbolic bar of 100,000 deaths has been exceeded.

This means one death every 5 minutes.