Drug Enforcement Administration acting administrator Robert Murphy says it is hitting cartels where it hurts – "with arrests, with seizures, and with relentless pressure". Photo / AFP
Drug Enforcement Administration acting administrator Robert Murphy says it is hitting cartels where it hurts – "with arrests, with seizures, and with relentless pressure". Photo / AFP
US drug enforcement agents seized more than US$10 million ($16.8m) in cryptocurrency linked to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel during raids that netted massive quantities of fentanyl and other drugs, officials said Tuesday.
The Sinaloa cartel is one of six Mexican drug trafficking groups that US President Donald Trump has designated asglobal “terrorist” organisations.
The cryptocurrency seizure in Miami, Florida, was part of countrywide operations that netted 44 million fentanyl pills, 2000kg of fentanyl powder and nearly 29,500kg of methamphetamine since January, the US Department of Justice said in a statement.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), in co-ordination with its FBI partners, “seized over US$10m in cryptocurrency, directly linked to the Sinaloa cartel”, it said.
It comes days after Ovidio Guzman Lopez, a son of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, pleaded guilty to drug charges in Chicago in a deal struck with prosecutors in return for a reduced sentence.
Ovidio Guzman Lopez, nicknamed the Mouse, was arrested in January in the Sinaloa capital of Culiacan. Photo / Cepropie via AP
His father was convicted in a high-profile trial in 2019 and is serving a life sentence in prison.
“DEA is hitting the cartels where it hurts – with arrests, with seizures, and with relentless pressure,” DEA acting administrator Robert Murphy said.
The cryptocurrency haul was among several major seizures across the country in recent weeks, including in California, Texas, Georgia and other states that netted thousands of kilograms of drugs and dozens of arrests.
In Galveston, Texas, agents uncovered more than 770kg of methamphetamine worth more than US$15m hidden inside a vehicle.
Other raids yielded drugs hidden in produce shipments, including 320kg of methamphetamine concealed in cucumbers in Georgia and 355kg found in a refrigerated truck carrying blueberries in Texas.
