(NewsNation) — China is a driving force behind much of the illegal drug trade in the United States, including fentanyl and marijuana, according to law enforcement authorities.
Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics Director Donnie Anderson says China’s involvement is a “huge problem.”
“It’s been a problem here in Oklahoma since 2019 or 2020,” Anderson said Monday on “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.” “It’s not just marijuana. It is directly related to the cartels. The Chinese criminal organizations are laundering money for the cartels, and they’re very good. … They’re the best we’ve ever seen.”
Associates of the Sinaloa drug cartel based in Los Angeles conspired with a Chinese underground banking network to move more than $50 million in drug proceeds from the distribution of cocaine and methamphetamine, federal drug officials announced last week.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced federal charges against 24 people following a multiyear investigation called “Operation Fortune Runner.” The indictment, which was handed down in April, was unsealed Monday of last week.
Federal officials allege a Sinaloa cartel-connected money laundering network with ties to a California money transmitting group that is linked to Chinese underground banking collected drug trafficking funds and had the cash processed as U.S. currency.
China’s involvement in the illegal drug trade is a topic NewsNation has been following. NewsNation senior national correspondent Brian Entin has been investigating alleged illegal marijuana grow farms in Oklahoma that are backed by Chinese.
Oklahoma law enforcement says they’re shutting down, on average, 15 of the unlawful grow houses every day. They say the Chinese growers come across the southern U.S.-Mexico border and then travel to Oklahoma to work at the black market grow houses.
“China controls anything and everything that comes out of their country … We would be very naive to say the government isn’t aware that this is going on,” Anderson added. “I do think negotiations are going on where they’re trying to improve the situation. … But even if China thinks this is a U.S. problem, and we do have a drug problem, don’t minimize what you’re doing. It can be stopped.”
NewsNation’s Jeff Arnold contributed to this report.