(FeaturedHeadlines.com) The five-year investigation of the US government unveiled a drug trafficking and money laundering scheme of the infamous Sinaloa Cartel, which they orchestrated with the help of underground Chinese bankers.
The investigations unfolded the $50 million scheme in which Chinese nationals helped the notorious criminal cartel that is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths in the United States.
According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), 24 people have been indicted after the conclusion of “Operation Fortune Runner”, which sought to dismantle the drug and money laundering cartel.
Wealthy Chinese nationals, who face legal restrictions of transferring only $50,000 per year out of their country, were pulling the strings of the whole plot as these limitations were hindering their ability to fund their lavish lifestyle abroad.
The DOJ stated that the drug sellers used to receive money in their local bank accounts in China and paid the US dollars equivalent to that amount in Mexico to influential Chinese families, which helped them buy luxurious real estate properties overseas.
Some Chinese people also bought chemicals used in the manufacturing of methamphetamine and fentanyl, which were then transferred to Mexico to smuggle into the United States.
During the operation, the enforcement teams seized nearly $5 million from narcotics sales alongside massive amounts of cocaine, Ecstasy pills, meth, psilocybin, ketamine and semi-automatic weapons.
All 24 defendants now face charges of conspiracy for smuggling cocaine, conspiracy for money laundering, and conspiracy to run an illegal money transfer business.
The Chinese and Mexican government also helped in busting the plot, the DOJ added.
The Sinaloa cartel is one of the most notorious criminal gangs operating in Mexico and smuggling drugs into the United States. According to the CDC data, over 107,000 Americans lost their lives from January 2021 to 2022 due to drug overdose and 66.5% of them were affected by fentanyl.
The DEA administrator, Anne Milgram, called Sinaloa Carter a “global criminal enterprise” that makes billions of dollars in profit by trafficking drugs into the United States.
Copyright 2024, FeaturedHeadlines.com
