Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco said the fentanyl supply chain too often begins in China and evidence exists to show PRC companies sell vast quantities of precursor chemicals to drug cartels.
She remarked on the charges being levied against China-based chemical manufacturing companies and arrests of fentanyl manufacturing executives, according to a June 23 release from the Department of Justice.
“Two months ago, the Attorney General and I pledged to employ every tool in the government’s arsenal, at every stage of the fentanyl supply chain, in every part of the globe, to protect American communities,” Monaco said in the release of her remarks. “Today’s announcement is a down payment on that pledge. It breaks new ground by attacking the fentanyl supply chain at its origin: for the first time we are charging Chinese chemical companies and their employees for conspiring to manufacture and export fentanyl precursor chemicals and circumvent customs laws.”
She said the chemical ingredients for fentanyl are produced and exported by the ton in China, the release reported.
Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., added an amendment to the Fiscal Year 24 National Defense Authorization Act, to place responsibility on China for the fentanyl crisis, according to a release from his office. The amendment proposed by Banks mandates the Department of Defense assess the involvement or knowledge of Chinese officials in facilitating the transportation of fentanyl precursors to Mexican drug cartels.
“We have charged four PRC companies with fentanyl trafficking conspiracy. We have also charged eight PRC nationals who work for those companies, and we have taken 2 of them into custody,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said on PBS NewsHour, according to a Twitter post from the Select Committee on the CCP.
“The Justice Department will not rest or relent in investigating and prosecuting every link of the fentanyl supply chain, in every corner of the globe. There can be no safe haven,” Monaco said in her remarks, according to the Justice Department release. “We will continue to call on the Chinese government to hold PRC companies accountable for the global harm they are causing.”
She said this global problem demands a global solution, the Justice Department release reported. Monaco also addressed Chinese sellers who use social media to advertise their products, urging social media platforms to remove these advertisements and restrict them in the future.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., is working to fight this with the Combating Cartels on Social Media Act, according to a June 14 release from her office.
“Many Americans are not aware of the fact that the drug cartels in Mexico, who have no regard for human life, are routinely using social media platforms to recruit Americans to assist them with their smuggling operations,” Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, said, according to Sinema’s release.
