Sinaloa Cartel in Colombia hit hard for selling fentanyl

• Seven members of the Sinaloa Cartel were arrested in Colombia.
• They are accused of producing and selling fentanyl destined for the United States.
• National Police confirmed that it was a joint operation.

Seven members of the Sinaloa Cartel were arrested in Colombia. They are accused of producing and selling fentanyl destined for the United States. The National Police confirmed that it was a joint operation of several security institutions from both that country and the United States and they announced what will happen to those arrested, according to Proceso and infobae.

Elements of the Criminal Investigation Department participated actively in the arrests, together with the US Drug Enforcement Agency and the Colombian Prosecutor’s Office.

ANOTHER BLOW FOR EL CHAPO GUZMÁN

It was reported that the criminal organization «used digital applications such as the management of cryptocurrencies for money laundering, making transfers to electronic wallets and, later, withdrawing the money in cash to continue the chain of money laundering.» The Ministry of Defense described this capture as a «hard blow against drug trafficking worldwide.»

The Sinaloa Cartel, which was led by Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, has been sanctioned by they US as Joe Biden, promised «severe sanctions to end fentanyl trafficking”. Ovidio Guzmán was also arrested in Mexico last month.

WHAT WILL THEY DO WITH THE DETAINEES?

According to the Colombian National Police, the detainees will be extradited to the United States for crimes of conspiracy to import drugs, possession of weapons such as machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, confirmed the information on Twitter, pointing out that the criminals were trying to produce fentanyl, a drug that he described as one of the worst. «Trying to produce fentanyl, the worst of the worst, this gang of the Sinaloa cartel is captured in Colombia in a joint operation with Greece and Guatemala,» President Gustavo Petro tweeted.

WHAT ARE THEY ACCUSED OF?

It is important to note that the members of the Sinaloa Cartel are accused of producing and selling fentanyl in Colombia. It’s a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more powerful than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. It was created by Belgian pharmacologist Paul Janssen in the United States for medicinal purposes but has since been misused.

A different version was also created some time later that is used illegally. Most of the laboratories where it is manufactured are located in Mexico, several of them led by the Sinaloa Cartel. This time they found one in Colombia and it was dismantled by agents of this country and the United States.

WHAT IS FENTANYL?

According to the World Health Organization, fentanyl in various formulations is on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines. “There is evidence that drug dealers may be adding fentanyl to their products (such as heroin) to increase their potency and selling fentanyl as counterfeit tablets… WHO continues to monitor various fentanyl analogues through its surveillance system new2.»

According to EFE, the DEA stated that in September of last year it created a unit dedicated exclusively to persecuting and dismantling the efforts of these two transnational organizations to traffic «fentanyl and methamphetamines» to the US.