The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday filed charges against four Chinese chemical manufacturers and eight Chinese nationals, accusing them of crimes related to the production, distribution, and sales of the deadly drug fentanyl.
The indictments allege that the defendants violated U.S. federal laws by knowingly manufacturing, marketing, selling, and supplying precursor chemicals for fentanyl production in the United States.
“The Justice Department will not rest or relent in investigating and prosecuting every link of the fentanyl supply chain, including the PRC companies and executives who produce and export vast quantities of the precursor chemicals the drug cartels need to peddle their poison,“ Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement. ”There can be no safe haven.”
Fentanyl and its analogs are fueling the opioid epidemic in the United States, devastating communities. The highly addictive synthetic opioid is 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin.
As part of the investigations, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) seized over 440 pounds of fentanyl-related precursors, which is enough to kill roughly 25 million Americans.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said that, in addition to going after Mexican cartels for their role in trafficking fentanyl into the United States, the DOJ’s efforts also include “stopping the Chinese chemical companies that are supplying the cartels with the building blocks they need to manufacture deadly fentanyl.”
The move marks the first time that the United States has charged Chinese companies for trafficking fentanyl precursor chemicals into the country.
“These companies and their employees knowingly conspired to manufacture deadly fentanyl for distribution in the United States,” Garland said at a Friday press conference.
‘In American Handcuffs’
One of the indictments unsealed in the Southern District of New York charged the China-based chemical company Hubei Amarvel Biotech Co. Ltd. (Amarvel Biotech) with fentanyl trafficking, precursor chemical importation, and money laundering offenses.Also charged were the company’s executives and employees Qingzhou Wang, 35, aka Bruce (Wang); Yiyi Chen, 31, aka Chiron (Chen); and Fnu Lnu, aka Er Yang and Anita (Yang).
Wang and Chen were arrested by DEA agents earlier in June and made an initial appearance in a Honolulu federal court on June 9. They have remained in detention and will appear in Manhattan federal court after their extradition.
“We’ve charged a Chinese precursor chemical company. And that’s not all. We’ve charged and arrested some of the individuals who work at the company. That includes a corporate executive and a marketing manager,” U.S. Attorney Damian Willians for the Southern District of New York said in a statement.
“They’re in American handcuffs. And they’re going to face justice in an American courtroom.”
Amarvel Biotech, which is based in the Chinese city of Wuhan, is alleged to have exported “vast quantities” of precursor chemicals that are used to make fentanyl and its analogs.
The company has openly advertised online its shipments of the deadly chemicals, the Justice Department said, noting that it has marketed them to customers in Mexico, guaranteeing “100 percent stealth shipping,” including to Culiacan, the home city of the Sinaloa Cartel.
The Sinaloa Cartel is one of the biggest drug trafficking organizations in the Western Hemisphere, and the DOJ says it bears the biggest responsibility for the huge influx of fentanyl into the United States in recent times.
‘Untold Tragedy’
Two indictments unsealed in the Eastern District of New York focus on two Chinese companies and employees based in China, accusing them of conspiracies to manufacture and distribute fentanyl, among other offenses.The first indictment charges Anhui Rencheng Technology Co. (Rencheng) Ltd. and Anhui Moker New Material Technology Co., while the second indictment charges Hefei GSK Trade Co. Ltd, aka Hebei Gesuke Trading Co. Ltd. and Hebei Sinaloa Trading Co. Ltd.
A half dozen Chinese nationals have also been charged with a range of related crimes, including manufacture of fentanyl and customs fraud conspiracy.
“As alleged, the defendants knowingly distributed the chemical building blocks of fentanyl to the United States and Mexico, even providing advice on how they should be used to manufacture this dangerous drug which inflicts untold tragedy in New York City, Long Island, and across the nation,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement.
The defendant companies, along with similar companies, have played a major role in the influx of deadly fentanyl in the United States, the Justice Department said.
“The chemicals provided by the defendant companies have enabled such cartels and other drug trafficking organizations to produce fentanyl in clandestine laboratories in Mexico on a massive scale, for subsequent distribution in the United States and elsewhere,” the DOJ said in a statement.
Elsewhere in efforts to combat the opioid epidemic, the Treasury Department slapped sanctions on seven entities and six people in China at the end of May, accusing them of enabling the production of counterfeit fentanyl-laced pills.
