FT: Materials for Fentanyl Come From China

Chinese chemical manufacturers are supplying the ingredients used to create fentanyl, Financial Times reported.

The chemicals are shipped to Mexico, where cartels oversee the production of fentanyl in pill form. The drugs then are smuggled into the U.S. through the southern border.

The Washington Post reported late last month that fentanyl production was back to business as usual just seven months after President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to revive a joint crackdown on illegal drug trafficking.

Chinese involvement in the fentanyl trade also comes in the form of money laundering, "cleaning" the funds raised by selling drugs. They partner with the cartels and other illegal groups, Financial Times reported.

The result has been billions of dollars flowing over the border without actual cash such as U.S. currency or pesos or renminbi (Chinese currency).

The criminal groups have found ways to evade Chinese nationals being prevented from transferring more than $50,000 out of their homeland each year.

The Financial Times provided an example of how the criminal groups work to launder the money.

In the outlet's example, a Chinese student studying in the U.S. goes on social media to ask for money to help support her educational requirements.

"In due course, someone associated with what is a very efficient Chinese underground banking system will get in touch and tell the student to meet a courier at a preordained time and place, typically a park in Brooklyn," Financial Times reported. "There, the student will be handed a bundle of cash."

The student's parents in China then will be asked to transfer the same amount of money (plus commission) to an account that provides the funds to the chemical company that produces the ingredients for fentanyl.

"The demand for dollars from Chinese nationals abroad is such that the Mexican cartels can essentially launder their money for free," Financial Times reported.

It was reported last month that a five-year investigation by U.S. officials had uncovered a complex partnership between one of Mexico's most notorious drug cartels and Chinese underground banking groups in the U.S. that laundered money from the sale of fentanyl, cocaine, and other drugs.

Associates of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel conspired with the Chinese groups to cover up more than $50 million in drug profits, much of which was processed in the Los Angeles area, the prosecutors said in a news release.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.