The US Treasury Department has sanctioned three Belgian nationals and one Mexican national for engaging in international trafficking of drugs destined for US and European markets, according to a release on Wednesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th July, 2023) The US Treasury Department has sanctioned three Belgian nationals and one Mexican national for engaging in international trafficking of drugs destined for US and European markets, according to a release on Wednesday.
"Today's actions underscore the importance of our collective efforts to disrupt the global illicit drug trade," Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in the release.
The three Belgian nationals are Othman El Ballouti, his younger brother Younes El Ballouti and his associate Youssef Ben Azza. Believed to be living in Dubai, they are wanted by Belgian authorities for cocaine trafficking.
Othman El Ballouti manages an international criminal organization that smuggles cocaine via shipping containers through the port of Antwerp for wider distribution throughout Europe, the release said.
His money laundering and narcotics supply chain networks are linked to China-based businesses and South American cocaine suppliers, including sanctioned Ecuadorian national Wilder Emilio Sanchez Farfan, who was arrested this year, the release said.
Younes El Ballouti, who serves a manager in his brother's narcotics trafficking organization, was sentenced in absentia in January to an eight-year prison term for his involvement in multiple drug shipments, the release said.
Youssef Ben Azza, who has been involved in drug trafficking for over a decade, assists Othman El Ballouti by establishing ostensibly legitimate companies to conceal his illicit activities, the release said.
The sanctioned Mexican national is Franco Tabarez Martinez, a narcotics trafficker operating in the Mexican state of Guerrero, who was previously imprisoned in the United States for drug trafficking, the release said.
Martinez works in alliance with drug trafficking organization La Nueva Familia Michoacana and distributes cocaine, fentanyl and methamphetamine to the United States and manages methamphetamine laboratories in Mexico while receiving fentanyl powder from China, the release added.
An indictment charging him with drug trafficking was unsealed in the US state of Georgia on July 7, according to the release.
