The United States has accused China’s network of “underground banks” of helping Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa drug cartel launder money and commit other crimes.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) has indicted 24 people on charges including drug distribution.
Law enforcement officers seized about $5 million (£4 million) worth of proceeds, as well as firearms and hundreds of pounds of cocaine, methamphetamine and ecstasy pills.
The Justice Department has touted its close cooperation with Mexican and Chinese law enforcement agencies, and the Chinese have echoed that message.
The United States accuses the Sinaloa cartel of fueling a deadly epidemic by flooding the country with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid up to 50 times more potent than heroin.
The Justice Department highlighted a “conspiracy” that saw more than $50 million in drug proceeds move between Sinaloa gang members and an underground “money exchange” in China.
These underground exchanges were allegedly used by Sinaloa operatives to move illegally obtained cash from the United States to Mexico.
The Justice Department said these Chinese exchanges provide an “instant market” for U.S. dollars and that some Chinese citizens are seeking “informal alternatives” to traditional banking because the Beijing government imposes limits on the amount of money they can take out of China.
A statement from Beijing quoted by AFP said authorities had arrested a suspected money launderer, appearing to confirm rare close cooperation with the United States.
The man ran a car dealership in the United States before turning to “illegal foreign exchange trading.”
Most of the 24 suspects named in the indictment are scheduled to appear in court in Los Angeles “in the coming weeks,” the Justice Department added in a statement.
The United States has long accused China of flooding the country with deadly drugs like fentanyl, a charge China denies.
More than 70,000 Americans are expected to die from fentanyl overdoses in 2022, and Washington says Chinese-made opioids are fuelling the worst drug crisis in the country’s history.
