Due to heightened political pressure, one of the most powerful drug cartels in history, which is responsible for most fentanyl entering the United States, has reportedly prohibited the production and distribution of illicit substances.
According to cartel operators questioned by the Wall Street Journal, the Sinaloa Cartel is “prohibiting the production and trafficking of the illegal opioid in its territory after coming under increasing pressure from U.S. law enforcement.”
The alleged order came from the sons of famed Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, the former Sinaloa Cartel boss serving a life sentence in a Colorado supermax jail.
According to the newspaper, the cartel intends to “evade pressure from U.S. law enforcement,” since drug-related deaths have soared in the last decade.
According to one US official who talked to the publication, the action was a public relations stunt, and the cartel would not cease producing fentanyl.
“In the aggregate it won’t mean anything” the official said. “They think if they do this, they won’t take as much heat.”
According to the article, the Biden administration is putting pressure on the Mexican government, which is frequently associated with the cartels, to do more to dismantle the operations, particularly the Sinaloa Cartel.
Various cartel operatives interviewed by the Journal stated that they had stopped producing fentanyl because the cartel had begun executing anyone still involved in making or distributing the narcotic.
The organization erected banners throughout the state of Sinaloa warning cartel members that they would be killed if they were linked with fentanyl. Similar banners have purportedly been discovered in other Mexican states such as Tijuana and Sonora.
Other operatives stated that the cartel hoped that by exiting the fentanyl market, US authorities would focus their efforts on the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
Some cartel members interviewed by the Journal said they left because they couldn’t access the precursor chemicals needed to create the drug, or because they came across other cartel members who had been shot to death and had fentanyl pills poured all over them. The article reported that during the last two weeks, over a dozen people suspected to be affiliated with the cartels had been kidnapped or gone missing, all of whom are thought to be involved in fentanyl production.
“We believe these kidnappings and disappearances are linked to the ban on fentanyl because their relatives haven’t presented formal complaints to authorities,” he said. “These people are very scared.”
Even if the prohibition is enforced, US officials say the supply of fentanyl is so plentiful that it will be months before the narcotic is reduced on US streets. The cartel will most likely expand cocaine, meth, and heroin shipments to compensate for any lost income flow from the fentanyl sales restriction.
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