US Sanctions Oversimplify Fentanyl Trafficking From Mexico
FENTANYL
/22 NOV 2022
BY PARKER ASMA
Authorities in the United States have sanctioned a Mexican criminal group for trafficking illicit fentanyl into the country, but the designation passes over some of the complexities behind the smuggling and marketing of the deadly synthetic opioid.
The US Treasury Department announced that it had sanctioned the Nueva Familia Michoacana and two of the group’s alleged leaders, Johnny and José Alfredo Hurtado Olascoaga, for their role in trafficking illicit fentanyl, according to a government press release published November 17.
Under the leadership of the brothers, the Nueva Familia Michoacana -- a splinter group of the once-powerful Familia Michoacana -- allegedly operates across dozens of municipalities in the states of Michoacán, Guerrero, Morelos, and Mexico, and smuggles cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and illicit fentanyl into the United States.
US officials directly targeted the illicit fentanyl trafficked by the organization, which also “now markets ‘rainbow fentanyl,’” according to Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. In August of this year, US anti-drug officials claimed this “new” trafficking method was “a deliberate effort by drug traffickers to drive addiction amongst kids and young adults.”
More:
https://insightcrime.org/news/us-sanctions-fentanyl-trafficking-mexico/