WASHINGTON — U.S. officials announced actions Friday to combat fentanyl as the nation struggles to battle overdose deaths, including charges against members of a Mexican drug cartel that authorities say is behind the drug’s largest trafficking operation on the globe.
The federal indictments were unsealed Friday in three different federal courts and target the Sinaloa cartel, which authorities say is responsible for importing the drug into the United States. A federal prosecutor from New York called it “the most ambitious fentanyl prosecution in American history.”
The Treasury Department announced sanctions Friday against two Chinese companies and five individuals, which would freeze their U.S.-based assets and potentially levy consequences for their business partners.
