US, Mexico Comply with Ramp up Struggle Towards Fentanyl and Arms Trafficking

By Adriana Barrera and Lizbeth Diaz

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico and the US on Thursday agreed to ramp up the battle towards fentanyl trafficking, in addition to Mexico’s Sinaloa and CJNG drug cartels and their provide chains, in joint bid to scale back consumption of the highly effective opioid.

The deal got here after a gathering of officers from each nations in Washington.

Each nations have in latest weeks requested China to assist curb the cargo of precursor chemical compounds coming from the Asian nation, with the intention to forestall manufacturing of the artificial drug liable for hundreds of deaths in the US.

“That is our aim,” mentioned Mexican International Minister Marcelo Ebrard in a video launched by his workplace, with out mentioning the origin of those chemical compounds.

The White Home mentioned this week it plans to increase efforts to disrupt the illicit monetary actions of drug traffickers concerned within the fentanyl commerce by utilizing extra sanctions to hinder their entry to the U.S. monetary system.

Ebrard mentioned the Mexican delegation additionally requested Washington for a job drive to watch and “considerably” scale back the circulation of arms from the US to Mexico.

Mexico is interesting in a $10 billion civil lawsuit in search of to carry U.S. gun makers liable for facilitating the trafficking of lethal weapons throughout the border to native drug cartels. It argues that combating it is a shared duty.

(Reporting by Adriana Barrera and Lizbeth Diaz; Writing by Isabel Woodford and Sarah Morland; Modifying by Stephen Eisenhammer and Christopher Cushing)

Copyright 2023 Thomson Reuters.