Tag: Drug Abuse and Traffic

U.S. Moves to Crack Down on Money Behind Fentanyl Trade

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The Biden administration said on Monday that it was creating a “counter-fentanyl strike force” within the Treasury Department to combat trafficking of the drug into the United States by more aggressively scrutinizing the finances of suspected narcotics dealers. The Treasury’s office of terrorism and financial intelligence and the criminal investigation unit of the Internal Revenue Service will lead the new team. It will attempt to find and disrupt money laundering associated with fentanyl trafficking and to more effectively crack down on sanctions violations. Officials from Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network…

U.S. Pressuring China on Fentanyl

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Just four years ago, a joint American and Chinese effort to stem the flow of fentanyl produced in China from reaching the United States appeared set to take off. Beijing had unveiled a sweeping new law banning the synthetic opioid, leading the Trump administration to praise China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, for “a wonderful humanitarian gesture.” Soon, Chinese and American law enforcement agents joined forces to investigate and prosecute fentanyl traffickers in China. But today, cooperation between the two countries on fentanyl is at an impasse. Mutual efforts to crack…

U.S. Charges 4 Chinese Firms With Selling Chemicals to Make Fentanyl

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Four chemical companies based in China and eight Chinese nationals have been charged with trafficking chemicals used by Mexican drug cartels to manufacture vast quantities of fentanyl later sold in the United States, federal officials said on Friday. The officials said that two of the Chinese defendants — the principal executive and marketing manager of one of the companies — had been arrested recently overseas and taken to Hawaii for a court appearance, and that they would be brought to Manhattan to face prosecution. The new indictments unsealed on Friday…

Your Thursday Briefing: Russia Cuts Gas Supplies

Chin@Strategy

Good morning. A gas crisis looms over Europe, anger grows in Shanghai and Singapore executes an intellectually disabled man. Russia cuts gas supplies to Europe In its toughest response yet to European sanctions, Russia halted natural gas shipments to Bulgaria and Poland. The E.U.’s top official denounced the move as “blackmail,” but European officials said they were prepared to weather the near-term impact: Poland’s gas storage facilities are 75 percent full, and it has been working for years to avoid being held to ransom by Moscow over energy. Germany also…