Report: Sinaloa Cartel Now Killing Fentanyl Producers

When banners went up announcing that the Sinaloa drug cartel had given up the sale and production of fentanyl, authorities were understandably wary. But members of the cartel, the leading exporter of fentanyl to the US, say cartel leaders are serious—deadly serious. A "midlevel Sinaloa cartel operative" who ran a fentanyl lab before closing up shop to comply with the cartel's stated ban tells the Wall Street Journal that he knows of five people who were killed for defying the ban. Human rights activist Miguel Angel Murillo of the Sinaloa Civic Front adds that most of the dozen people who've disappeared or been kidnapped in the past 10 days are thought to be "linked to the ban on fentanyl."

"You have been warned," concluded the banners announcing the fentanyl ban, signed by the sons of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. They appeared following a series of blows to the cartel. In January, one of El Chapo's sons, Ovidio Guzman, was captured by Mexican security forces in a deadly gun battle. Then in April, the US indicted all four Guzman brothers and dozens of their associates, with the Drug Enforcement Administration claiming to have infiltrated the highest level of the cartel. A Mexican security consultant tells the Journal that cartel leaders now fear getting arrested and extradited to the US, as Ovidio Guzman was last month, per Reuters. They may believe that moving away from fentanyl will get authorities off their backs.

The midlevel operative says the cartel intends to let the rival Jalisco New Generation Cartel, another leading fentanyl producer, take the fall for the drug while it focuses its attention elsewhere. "Although the core business of the Sinaloa cartel traditionally centers on illegal narcotics, say US officials, the criminal group has diversified into other illicit activities such as widespread extortion," the Journal reports. The operative also discussed trafficking in guns from the US. Still, US authorities remain doubtful that Sinaloa's fentanyl production will be stopped, given that so many people make a living from the opioid. They liken the cartel's claims to a public relations ploy, adding they've seen no sign of any real change. (More Sinaloa drug cartel stories.)