Ice cream parlors and pharmacies linked to ruthless cartel – DNyuz

The U.S. Treasury Department said Tuesday it has imposed sanctions on two Mexican companies — an ice cream parlor and a local pharmacy — for allegedly using proceeds from fentanyl trafficking to finance their activities linked to the Sinaloa cartel.

The move comes as rival cartel factions have been locked in a deadly conflict with each other and the authorities following the surprise arrest on US soil in late July of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, which is believed to have sparked an internal power struggle within the group.

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 the escalation of the cartel war that has left dozens of 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 addition, the Ministry of Finance announced on Tuesday that it is imposing sanctions on five leaders of the Colombian Clan del Golfo (CDG), a major drug trafficking network.

The Gulf Clan “is one of the largest drug trafficking organizations in the country and a major contributor to human trafficking through the Darién Gap,” officials said in a 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.

The story Ice cream parlors, pharmacies linked to ruthless cartel first appeared on CBS News.