WASHINGTON: The US government has charged four Chinese companies and eight Chinese individuals with trafficking in chemicals used in manufacturing fentanyl, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday .
The announcement came just days after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing, where he met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Charged in three separate cases filed in federal court in New York were Hubei Amarvel Biotech, Anhui Rencheng Technology, Anhui Moker New Material Technology and Hefei GSK Trade.The two people arrested, both employees of Hubei Amarvel, were taken into custody by US officials and held in Honolulu, Hawaii after they were expelled from Fiji on Jun 8.
Over the past year the US Treasury has imposed sanctions on several Chinese chemical companies and individuals for supplying fentanyl ingredients to Mexican drug producers and traffickers. Before Blinken's trip, US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns said Beijing was not doing enough on the problem.