The US judiciary announced on Friday that it has filed for the first time indictments against Chinese companies accused of bringing to the US the components needed to manufacture fentanyl, a synthetic opiate wreaking havoc in the country.
Four China-based chemical companies and eight of their employees are targets of the unprecedented lawsuits, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a news conference.
One of those companies alone is accused of “smuggling more than 200 kilograms of precursor chemicals into the United States to manufacture more than 50 kilograms of fentanyl there, an amount enough to kill 25 million Americans,” he explain.
According to a ministry press release, this company, called Amarvel Biotech, is based in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, and has openly touted on its website its ability to ship fentanyl ingredients to Mexico or the United States.
One of its executives, Qingzhou Wang, 35, and its chief marketing officer Yiyi Chen, 31, were deported from Fiji on June 8, arrested by the US Drug Enforcement Agency and being held in Honolulu, where they awaited extradition to New York.
According to the American authorities, they were fully aware of the dangers of their business. According to court documents, in November 2017, a DEA whistleblower wrote via encrypted messages to Qingzhou Wang, “You know I’m taking fentanyl” and “It’s not harmless,” and the Chinese leader replied, “Yes, I know.”
The other three companies accused are Anhui Rencheng Technology, Anhui Moker New Material Technology and Hefei GSK Trade.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opiate 50 times more potent than heroin, is now the number one killer of Americans ages 18 to 49.
“Coalition”
China banned the export of fentanyl to the United States in 2019, a move welcomed by Donald Trump’s administration at the time. But the country is accused of continuing to supply the chemical precursors of fentanyl, mainly to Mexico and Central America.
“The Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels work with chemical companies based in the People’s Republic of China to get their raw materials” and then flood the United States with fentanyl, DEA chief Anne Milgram noted during the press conference.
China denies responsibility for the opiate overdose crisis, blaming American society and its drug companies for flooding the market with powerful, highly addictive painkillers for 20 years.
In the United States, opioid overdose deaths have skyrocketed in recent years, from 69,000 in 2020 to 81,000 in 2021 and 110,000 in 2022.
Washington recently imposed sanctions on several Chinese companies accused of being involved in trafficking the drug.
The issue, a bone of contention between the two powers, was discussed during US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s recent visit to Beijing.
The latter announced on Friday that the US wants to lead a “coalition” of countries to fight the scourge of fentanyl.
“We encourage countries across the region to join us in this effort,” he told the Organization of American States (OAS) General Assembly in Washington.
He will virtually bring his counterparts together on July 7 to attend the inaugural session of this coalition.