U.S. unleashes more sanctions targeting Mexican drug cartels over fentanyl trafficking

July 24 (UPI) -- The United States has blacklisted two members of a Mexican drug cartel and two companies, as the Biden administration continues to target transnational criminal organization behind the trafficking of fentanyl into the country.

Over the past month, the Biden administration has unleashed five rounds of sanctions against transnational criminal organizations profiting over the United States' ongoing opioid crisis.

On Tuesday, it hit Juan Carlos Banuelos Ramirez, 46, and Gerardo Rivera Ibarra, 54, alleged leaders of the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, or the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data non-governmental organization, the CJNG was founded in the late 2000s and has since grown to become "one of the most powerful actors in Mexico's criminal underworld," evolving from an armed wing of the Milneio Cartel into "a complex drug-producing and trafficking structure" that supplies markets worldwide.

Banuelos Ramirez and Rivera Ibarra were blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury on Tuesday for leaders of CJNG cells that have worked to get fentanyl and methamphetamine into the United States.

The Treasury said Banuelos Ramirez manages labs in Mexico that produce methamphetamine and counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl, drugs he smuggles within machinery.

He is also accused of purchasing automatic weapons for the cartel and trying to acquire drones. On top of overseeing his Mexican labs, Banuelos Ramirez also allegedly launders money and procures precursor chemicals to manufacture narcotics .

Two companies -- Fornely Lab S.A. de C.V. and Inmobiliaria Universal Deja Vu S.A. de C.V. -- were also sanctioned for being connected to Rivera Ibarra and Banuelos Ramirez.

"Building on our strong partnerships across the U.S. government and with our counterparts in Mexico, we will continue to act against the financial flows of CJNG and other criminal organizations that harm Americans through the illicit drug trade," Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement .

The Biden administration has made fighting the opioid epidemic one of its objectives, and has implemented a number of initiatives with this end, including cracking down on global criminal networks by increasing counternarcotics cooperations with the governments of India, Mexico and Canada.

Last week, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned four Mexican companies and three Mexican nationals tied to a timeshare fraud led by the CJNG.

Sanctions generally freeze all U.S. assets of those designated while barring U.S. persons from doing business with them.