Cuban authorities have arrested Chinese fentanyl kingpin Zhi Dong Zhang, who escaped custody in Mexico in July and is also wanted by the United States, according to AFP, citing Mexican security sources on Wednesday.
Zhang, also known by the alias “Brother Wang,” and with alleged ties to Mexico’s Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation drug cartels, will remain in Cuba awaiting a decision on his possible extradition, the sources added.
Zhang escaped from house arrest in Mexico earlier this year while awaiting extradition to the United States, where he faces charges related to money laundering.
Mexican Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch previously described Zhang as “a major international money laundering operator,” accusing him of facilitating fentanyl trafficking by “establishing connections with other cartels for the transfer of fentanyl from China to Central America, South America, Europe, and the United States.”
The US has ramped up pressure on both Mexico and China in recent years — particularly under President Donald Trump — to crack down on drug trafficking, especially involving fentanyl, the potent synthetic opioid driving the country’s overdose crisis.
Fentanyl is approximately 50 times stronger than heroin and significantly cheaper and easier to produce. It has become the leading cause of opioid-related overdoses in the US, surpassing both heroin and prescription opioids like oxycodone.
While Mexico remains the primary source of fentanyl entering the US, Washington has increasingly turned its attention to Chinese suppliers of precursor chemicals.
As of now, the Cuban government has not issued an official statement regarding Zhang’s reported arrest.
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