Treasury slaps sanctions on Sinaloa Cartel network involved in fentanyl ‘super labs’

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The Treasury on Wednesday announced that it is imposing new sanctions on a cartel network involved in the smuggling of fentanyl and methamphetamine into the U.S., as part of the administration’s crackdown against the movement of fentanyl into the U.S.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced it is designating six Mexican nationals and Sinaola Cartel members involved in the trade, as well as six related Mexican entities. 

The agency said that the network, led by Ludim Zamudio Lerma and Luis Alfonso Zamudio Lerma, is "responsible for diverting illicit precursor chemicals directly into the hands of Sinaloa Cartel members and laboratory operators, further bolstering the Sinaloa Cartel’s role as the preeminent facilitator of illicit fentanyl and other deadly drugs being trafficked into the United States."

The U.S. has been in the throes of an opioid crisis for years, with fentanyl at the heart of the crisis and responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans each year.

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Authorities have been tackling an opioid crisis for years that has fentanyl at its core. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)

The opioid is deadly in tiny doses and is often mixed into other drugs so that users are unaware that they are ingesting fentanyl. Officials have said that of the 108,000 overdose deaths in 2021, more than 80,000 were linked with opioids like fentanyl.

The drug is primarily created in Mexico using Chinese precursors and then transported across the land border, primarily through ports of entry but also between them as well. The head of Border Patrol recently announced that agents had seized enough fentanyl since October to kill 100 million Americans.

The Treasury says that the brothers supply precursor chemicals to Sinaloa Cartel members, which are then used in "super labs" to create the drugs in large quantities for the cartels.

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The six cartel members are designated for "having engaged in, or attempted to engage in, activities or transactions that have materially contributed to, or pose a significant risk of materially contributing to, the international proliferation of illicit drugs or their means of production."

The Treasury also designated businesses linked to the Zamudio family. The sanctions block the U.S.-based assets of those sanctioned and forbids transactions with them by those based within or transiting the U.S.

"Today’s action is part of a whole-of-government effort to counter the global threat posed by the trafficking of illicit drugs into the United States that causes the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans annually, as well as countless non-fatal overdoses," the Treasury said in a statement. "OFAC, in coordination with its U.S. government partners and foreign counterparts, will continue to target and pursue accountability for foreign illicit drug actors."

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The Biden administration has come under fire for its handling of the fentanyl crisis. While it has touted the increased seizures of the drug, Republicans have accused the administration of exacerbating a border crisis that allows the drug to get in undetected.

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President Biden himself highlighted the crisis during his State of the Union address and called for bipartisan efforts to crack down on the smuggling of the drug -- including more funding for technology at ports of entry.

"Fentanyl is killing more than 70,000 Americans a year. Let’s launch a major surge to stop fentanyl production, sale, and trafficking, with more drug detection machines to inspect cargo and stop pills and powder at the border," Biden said, before calling for cooperation with couriers and increased trafficking penalties.

The mention of fentanyl led to Republicans yelling, "It's your fault" and renewed calls from some Republicans to "secure the border."