US Treasury Department imposes sanctions on chain of ice cream parlors, pharmacy with ties to Sinaloa cartel

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Department said Tuesday it has imposed sanctions on two Mexican companies — an ice cream parlor chain and a local pharmacy — for allegedly using proceeds from fentanyl trafficking to finance their operations tied to the Sinaloa cartel.

According to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (the U.S. agency that combats illicit funds and money laundering), people previously charged with money laundering have started a chain of ice cream parlors and popsicle shops in the state of Sinaloa.

The Sinaloa cartel often uses the revenue from the international drug trade to set up businesses, investing money in everything from fraudulent timeshares to restaurants to launder money.

According to OFAC, another individual used drug trafficking proceeds to open a pharmacy and convenience store in the northern state of Sonora.

“President Biden and Vice President Harris are committed to using every tool at our disposal to combat the cartels that are poisoning our communities with fentanyl and other deadly drugs,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement.

The sanctions come days after the US denied accusations by the Mexican president that the US was partly responsible for an increase in the cartel war that has left at least 30 people dead in Sinaloa.

The cartel is responsible for a significant portion of the fentanyl trade into the U.S. They make precursor chemicals from China and India to make synthetic opioids and smuggle them into the United States, where they cause about 70,000 overdose deaths each year.

Jesús Norberto Larrañaga Herrera, known as “El 30,” and Karla Gabriela Lizárraga Sánchez, founded “Nieves y Paletas,” an ice cream chain with several store locations in the capital that used drug proceeds, the U.S. Treasury Department said.

OFAC said a pharmacy and a convenience store in Sonora had ties to drug trafficker José Arnoldo Morgan Huerta, nicknamed “Chachio.” His brother, Juan Carlos Morgan Huerta, known as “Cacayo,” is a “plaza boss” for the Sinaloa cartel and oversees drug trafficking in the border city of Nogales.

“Today’s action is part of a government-wide effort to counter the global threat of drug trafficking into the United States, which kills tens of thousands of Americans each year and results in countless non-fatal overdoses,” the U.S. Treasury Department said in the statement.

In July, US President Joe Biden announced a series of proposals aimed at curbing the ongoing drug epidemic. These included pushing Congress to pass legislation to establish a registry for pill presses and tablet makers and increasing penalties for convicted drug smugglers and fentanyl traffickers.

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