OFAC Designates Mexico-Based Network Leaders for Fentanyl Trafficking
The Office of Foreign Assets Control has designated the leader of a Mexico-based network and two associates for procuring precursor chemicals to manufacture and traffic fentanyl and other synthetic drugs to the U.S., according to a Jan. 30 news release.
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Jose Angel Rivera Zazueta is the leader of a drug manufacturing and trafficking organization based in Culiacan, Sinaloa and Mexico City, with nodes in the U.S., Mexico, South America, Central America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, OFAC said. Rivera Zazueta imports precursor chemicals from China into Mexico, which are used to manufacture synthetic drugs, including fentanyl, MDMA, crystal methamphetamine, 2C-B and ketamine, OFAC said.
Rivera Zazueta has worked closely with Shanghai Fast-Fine Chemicals, a Chinese chemical transportation company that OFAC designated in December 2021 for shipping "various, often falsely labeled, precursor chemicals to drug trafficking organizations in Mexico" for fentanyl production intended for U.S. markets, it said. OFAC also targeted Rivera Zazueta's associates, Mexican national Nelton Santiso Aguila and Guatemalan national Jason Antonio Yang Lopez, for aiding in the procurement and importation of precursor chemicals.
The action was coordinated with the government of Mexico and with the cooperation of the Drug Enforcement Administration, OFAC said.
“Illicit fentanyl has led to unprecedented overdose deaths in the United States, with a majority of these drugs flowing from Mexican cartels, including the Sinaloa Cartel, using precursor chemicals from East Asia,” Brian Nelson, Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said. “The United States will continue working with the government of Mexico to disrupt this deadly trade.”