OFAC Sanctions Mexico-Based Drug Traffickers
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned nine people in Mexico involved in drug trafficking and money laundering, including with major drug trafficking group Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion. OFAC said some of them played a “prominent role in the early stages” of the U.S. opioid crisis by smuggling drugs into America.
The designations target Roberto Castellanos Meza, Ivan Atzayacatl Castaneda Meza, Giovanni Castaneda Meza and Juan Carlos Castaneda Meza, known as the “Bonques Brothers,” who OFAC said supply heroin distribution networks and traffic cocaine in both Central and North America.
The agency also sanctioned Jose Adrian Castillo Lopez for supplying drug rings in the U.S. along with his employee, Luis Alonso Navarro Quezada, and Navarro Quezada's wife, Erandiny Jazmin Arias Ponce, who helps manage drug profits. OFAC said Navarro Quezada receives fentanyl from Sinaloa-based husband and wife Jose Sinue Castro Alvarez and Araceli Castillo Peinado.