The Treasury Department has introduced sanctions on 23 individuals and organizations involved in a sophisticated synthetic‑opioid procurement network connected to a Mexican crime syndicate.
Designated as a foreign terrorist organization in February 2025, the Sinaloa Cartel is one of the biggest drug-trafficking groups in the world, operating in Mexico and Latin America. It also specializes in a wide array of drugs, such as cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamine.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said on April 23 that various chemical suppliers and brokers have transformed the international drug trade by allowing Mexican cartels to produce illicit narcotics from precursor chemicals—4-Piperidone and N-Boc-4-Piperidone, for example—that originate primarily from Asia, including India….