Mexico /
Zhi Dong Zhang operated a million-dollar money laundering operation of millions of dollars from drug trafficking for the two most powerful cartels in Mexico: the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and the Sinaloa Cartel. He moved between the State of Mexico and Mexico City, but was already arrested for extradition purposes to the United States.
According to the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Omar Garcia Harfuchit was a coordinated action between the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), the Mexican Army, the Secretary of the Navy (Semar), the National Intelligence Center and the SSPyC itself, after being located in a property in Lomas de Santa Fe, in Cuajimalpa, Mexico City.
Who isZhi Dong Zhang?
According to intelligence reports, Zhi Dong Zhang was considered one of the most important money laundering operators internationally. It also served as the link for the trafficking of fentanyl from China to cartels in Central and South America, Europe and the United States.
The Department of Justice has already obtained an arrest warrant against him for drug trafficking and money laundering, so that when he is delivered into the hands of Washington can be charged in the Middle District Court of Georgia.
Through a joint statement after his arrest, it was reported that Zhang “has been accused of forming alliances with the Sinaloa Cartel and the CJNG for trafficking activities (…) It is known that Zhi Dong Zhang is responsible for the export, transportation and distribution of more than one thousand kg of cocaine, 1,800 kg of fentanyl and more than 600 kg of methamphetamines. Likewise, it is known that he has illicitly operated more than 150 million dollars annually in drug profits.”
According to the tracking of the subject, he operated from the United States, Central America, South America, Europe, China and Japan, as well as Mexico.
How did it operate? Zhi Dong Zhang?
He Department of the Treasury, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the United States Department of Justice have already identified a modus operandi by Chinese citizens who have managed to establish large schemes to launder drug money, mainly through international trade and cryptocurrencies.
An example is the operation led by Édgar Joel Martínez Reyes, an ally of the Sinaloa Cartel and who between 2019 and 2023, along with 23 other people, he would have laundered more than 50 million dollars with a scheme that included the purchase of cryptocurrencies and precious stones.
In addition to small deposits to accounts linked to the cartels and the introduction of millions of dollars in cash to legitimate companies that had commercial relations with China, which caused dirty money to be lost among the billions of dollars that circulate in foreign trade.
According to him National Treasury Money Laundering Risk Analysisboth criminal organizations are at the forefront of concerns about money laundering derived from drug trafficking.
“Mexican drug trafficking organizations, particularly the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel “They continue to be the predominant and most sophisticated organizations active in the United States, with consolidated control over drug corridors from Mexico and heavily involved in the trafficking of fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana,” the analysis explains.
The US authorities have identified that Chinese operators identified a high demand for dollars from businessmen in China, so they began to offer large amounts of dollars in cash from the sale of narcotics.
It is worth mentioning that, although this type of operations has been carried out for more than 20 years, they are becoming more sophisticated and the trade war between the United States and China has boosted the black market for dollars.
RM