Mexican cartels' increased cooperation with Chinese criminal groups could pose a security threat to the U.S.

Packages of money seized during an operation are shown to the media at a military zone on the outskirts of Monterrey, northern Mexico September 22, 2009 (Credit: Image via Reuters)

SEATTLE - Experts and former DEA agents are raising their concerns over the recent collaboration between Mexican and Chinese organized criminal groups, arguing that this could pose a potential national security threat to the United States.

Ray Donovan, a federal drug agent, found in 2015 that Chinese criminal groups were laundering drug money for the Mexican cartels on an unprecedented scale. With the help of investigators, he later found that the same Chinese brokers who were laundering fentanyl proceeds were now heavily involved in marijuana trafficking across the United States as well.