Follow the crypto: In its fight against fentanyl, DHS is tracing cryptocurrency used by Mexican drug [View all]

Follow the crypto: In its fight against fentanyl, DHS is tracing cryptocurrency used by Mexican drug cartels

Secretary Mayorkas told NBC News on Thursday that DHS “is seeking to hold individuals accountable, seizing their property and also interrupting their financial flow.”

July 13, 2023, 3:05 PM CDT
By Julia Ainsley and Didi Martinez

The Department of Homeland Security has ramped up its effort to stop fentanyl and the chemicals used to make it from entering the U.S. by tracing cryptocurrency used by Mexican cartels, according to two U.S. officials involved in the strategy.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told NBC News in an interview at the International Mail Facility at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on Thursday that DHS “is seeking to hold individuals accountable, seizing their property and also interdicting and interrupting their financial flow.”

The U.S. government faces a significant hurdle in stopping fentanyl production because the chemicals needed to make it are largely produced in China and shipped to Mexico, where cartels manufacture the drug and then bring it across the U.S. border to sell.

Although the chemicals are controlled substances in China, it remains the largest supplier of precursor chemicals. Fentanyl is now the No. 1 killer of Americans aged 18 to 45, according to Families Against Fentanyl, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it claims the lives of more than 70,000 Americans each year.

More:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/dhs-tracing-cryptocurrency-mexican-drug-cartels-fentanyl-rcna93923