Mexico has handed an alleged Chinese fentanyl kingpin over to authorities within the United States, the place he’s needed for cash laundering and drug trafficking.
Zhi Dong Zhang is accused in court docket paperwork of exporting, transporting and distributing greater than 1,000 kg of cocaine and 1,800 kg of fentanyl in addition to laundering greater than $150 million in unlawful annual income, in accordance to NCSE.
Investigators declare the Chinese nationwide, identified by the alias “Brother Wang,” operated within the US, Central America, Europe, China and Japan and that he shaped alliances with Mexican legal organizations to perform trafficking, the data present.
Zhang was first arrested in Mexico final October and granted home arrest whereas awaiting a court docket listening to for his extradition to the US.
On July 11 this yr he escaped from home arrest and was later recaptured in Cuba, National Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch mentioned in a submit on X.
“Today he was handed over to the United States authorities,” Harfuch mentioned on Thursday.
He thanked the Cuban authorities for its “valuable cooperation” in recapturing Zhang.
NCS has reached out to the US Department of Justice for remark.
Fentanyl is a number one explanation for US overdose deaths and Washington has accused Beijing of failing to curb the movement of precursor chemical substances utilized in its manufacturing.
US President Donald Trump mentioned fentanyl might be high of his agenda when he meets Chinese leader Xi Jinping subsequent week as a part of a visit to Asia, the White House mentioned, in accordance to Reuters.
“The first question I’m going to be asking him about is fentanyl,” Trump mentioned. “I’m putting it right at the front of the list.”
Beijing has accused Washington of making an attempt to “blackmail” China over the difficulty.
Asked about Zhang’s case at an everyday press briefing by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday, a spokesperson mentioned they have been “not aware of the specific situation.”