Relations between Beijing and Washington are not looking good, and the recent indictment by the US Department of Justice of four chemical companies based in China should not warm them up. These laboratories are accused of having brought into the United States the components necessary to manufacture fentanyl, a synthetic opiate which is wreaking havoc in the country. In addition to these companies, eight of their employees are targeted by these lawsuits according to the American Minister of Justice Merrick Garland. Two of them were arrested in Hawaii and taken into custody.
One of these firms, Amarvel Biotech, based in Wuhan, is accused of having, on its own, “smuggled more than 200 kilograms of precursor chemicals into the United States with the aim of manufacturing more than 50 kilograms of fentanyl, enough to kill 25 million Americans,” the same source said. These laboratories would also have offered “their customers the raw materials and the scientific know-how to manufacture the drug”, according to New York Times.
For its part, Beijing denies any responsibility for the opioid crisis on American territory. “This is a typical example of arbitrary detention and unilateral sanctions. These indictments deeply undermine the establishment of anti-drug cooperation between China and the United States,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry reacted on Saturday in a statement. communicated. Beijing has also said that fentanyl exports to the United States have been banned since 2019.
Mortal risk
This crackdown is part of a plan to fight fentanyl, which is wreaking havoc in the United States. This synthetic drug, used as a medicine, is primarily a powerful painkiller available on prescription, often delivered to people suffering from cancer. But for the past twenty years, the black market has been developing, particularly on the American continent. In the United States, it would have caused 110,000 deaths in 2022. Celebrities such as singer Prince and rapper Coolio have died of fentanyl overdoses.
According THE New York Times “In New York City, overdoses have skyrocketed thanks to fentanyl, with 2,668 deaths in 2021, a 78% jump from 2019, according to city data.” The US daily also quotes DEA Administrator Anne Milgram as saying that fentanyl is the “greatest threat to Americans today. Fentanyl overdoses are the leading cause of death among people aged 18-45. The drug can be 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine, and is sometimes added to cocaine or heroin without the buyer’s knowledge.” Fentanyl is created in clandestine laboratories, or recovered using fake prescription systems.
Hand in hand with the cartels
The DEA’s investigations are particularly focused on the supply of these clandestine fentanyl laboratories. According to Washington, Chinese companies are suspected of sending components for the manufacture of drugs to Mexico. The country is the main center of production of synthetic drugs then sold in the United States.
According to the US Department of Justice’s indictment, viewed by THE washington post, the companies allegedly supplied these products to Mexican cartels. “The Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels work with chemical companies based in the People’s Republic of China to obtain their raw material and then flood the United States with fentanyl,” Anne Milgram commented.