Alleged Chinese fentanyl kingpin extradited from Cuba to US, says Mexico

MEXICO CITY – A Chinese citizen accused of trafficking fentanyl has been extradited from Cuba to the United States, according to the Mexican government, which helped facilitate the transfer.

Zhang Zhi Dong – known as “Brother Wang” – escaped house arrest in Mexico in July, and was transferred to US custody, according to Mexican Security Secretary Omar Garcia Harfuch.

Zhang is alleged to have worked closely with Mexico’s Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation drug cartels. They are designated as “foreign terrorist organisations” by Washington.

The Cuban government said that “after a formal request for extradition”, the alleged trafficker was handed over to the Mexican authorities.

Neither Mexico nor Havana has specified whether Zhang was transferred to the US via Mexican soil, or if he was transported directly from Cuba.

Zhang is considered “a major international money laundering operator”, Mr Garcia said in 2024.

The trafficker was responsible for “establishing connections with other cartels for the transfer of fentanyl from China to Central America, South America, Europe, and the United States”, he added.

Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, Washington has been applying pressure on Mexico and China to curb drug trafficking, particularly of fentanyl.

The painkiller is a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more powerful than heroin and much easier and cheaper to produce. It has largely replaced heroin and prescription opioids such as oxycodone as a cause of overdoses in the US.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government has ramped up drug seizures under tariff pressure from Mr Trump, who has threatened further punitive measures unless the problem is solved.

Although Mexico has been the main source of fentanyl sold in the US, Washington has increasingly focused its attention on China-based suppliers of precursor ingredients. AFP