US Treasury sanctions Sinaloa Cartel members, entities involved in meth trade

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The US Treasury Department said Wednesday it sanctioned six Mexican nationals and Sinaloa Cartel members and six Mexico-based entities involved in the illicit methamphetamine and fentanyl trade.

The agency said two brothers, Ludim Zamudio Lerma and Luis Alfonso Zamudio Lerma, and the former's son, led the network to direct the chemicals into the Sinaloa Cartel members and laboratory operators, further bolstering the cartel’s role as the preeminent facilitator of illicit fentanyl and other deadly drugs being trafficked into the US.

One of the high-level Sinaloa Cartel members include Luis Gerardo Flores Madrid, who works for Ovidio Guzman Lopez -- the recently captured son of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera who is a former drug boss and a leader within the Cartel.

The precursor chemicals are used in large-scale drug laboratories known as super labs that produce 10 or more pounds of an illicit drug per production cycle to produce fentanyl and methamphetamine for the Sinaloa Cartel, it added.

"The Zamudio Lerma brothers and their network enable the production of synthetic drugs that devastate American lives, while lining the pockets of Sinaloa Cartel leadership," Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Director Andrea Gacki said in a statement. "Depriving this network of access and resources will hinder the Sinaloa Cartel’s ability to produce and traffic the illicit drugs it depends on."

While the Zamudio Lerma family owns numerous Mexico-based businesses, the US agency said two are engaged in activities or transactions that have materially contributed to the international proliferation of illicit drugs or their means of production.

The OFAC designated two real estate businesses and two import-export companies that are owned, controlled or directed by the Zamudio Lerma brothers.