He United States Department of the Treasury sanctioned this Tuesday Two Mexican companies already have their ownerstwo leaders of cells linked to the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG), considered one of the largest producers and traffickers of fentanyl to the neighboring country.
Those sanctioned are Juan Carlos Banuelos Ramirezalias The Pistons either The Prada and Gerardo Rivera Ibarraalias Buddy either The Güeritoallegedly responsible for shipping methamphetamine and fentanyl to the United States through the Deja Vu Universal Real Estate SA and Fornely Lab SA., respectively, the federal agency said in a statement.
What do we know about ‘El Prada’ and ‘El Compadre’?
Bañuelos Ramírez “launders money, acquires chemical precursors and supervises production laboratories within Mexico,” for all of which “he acquires precursor chemicals” from Mexicans located outside of Mexico, he detailed.
It is also responsible for sending oxycodone pills counterfeit drugs containing fentanyl from its laboratory in Mexico and manages the production of methamphetamine in laboratories in Jalisco, he added.
To export to the United States and other destinations, Bañuelos has often “smuggled drugs inside machinery,” in addition to buy automatic weapons for the CJNG and high-quality drones for the criminal organization.
Bañuelos was previously indicted by a federal grand jury in the Central District of California, the Treasury Department said in the statement.
For its part, Rivera Ibarra’s cell, which supplies fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine to the United States, operates in Jalisco and has links to Audias Flores Silva, a high-ranking member of the CJNG named pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act).
Both were sanctioned for having participated or attempted to participate in activities that have materially contributed to the international proliferation of illicit drugs or their means of production.
EU ‘strangles’ CJNG finances
As a result of the action, all property and interests in property of the designated and sanctioned individuals that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked.
Any entity that is owned, directly or indirectly, individually or jointly, by 50 percent or more of one or more blocked persons is also blocked, the statement said.
Over the past month, the US government has “imposed Five new rounds of sanctions against criminal organizations “transnational corporations, including traffickers and revenue schemes of the CJNG and other cartels that flood in fentanyl,” said Brian E. Nelson, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
The measure was coordinated between the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California and the Government of Mexico, among other institutions and security and investigation agencies.
