The United States has issued sanctions against 17 individuals and entities based in China and Mexico for their alleged ties to the production of narcotics headed for US markets, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th May, 2023) The United States has issued sanctions against 17 individuals and entities based in China and Mexico for their alleged ties to the production of narcotics headed for US markets, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday.
"Today, the Department of the Treasury sanctioned 17 individuals and entities involved in the production of illicit drugs, 13 of which are based in the People's Republic of China (PRC), and four of which are based in Mexico," Blinken said in a statement.
The US government has closely coordinated with the Mexican government on the sanctions action, the statement said.
The sanctioned individuals and entities were allegedly involved in the production of counterfeit pills, which are often laced with fentanyl and bear the markings of legitimate pharmaceuticals, and were "likely bound" for markets in the United States, the statement said.
The sanctions are part of a whole-of-government approach by the Biden administration to disrupt illicit fentanyl supply chains around the world, the statement said.
Sanctions targets included China-based pill press supplier Youli Technology Development Co., which allegedly shipped machinery to US individuals involved in the production of counterfeit pills, the US Treasury Department said in a statement.
The sanctions also targeted Mexpacking Solutions, a pill press business in Chihuahua, Mexico, with alleged ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, the statement said.
Three-fifths of fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills analyzed by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) laboratory in 2022 contained a potentially lethal dose of the narcotic, according to a DEA study.
