MEXICO CITY – The United States on Friday announced rewards of up to $5 million each for information leading to the arrest or conviction of four suspected Mexican drug traffickers, including the brother of jailed drug lord Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman.
Aureliano Guzman Loera – El Chapo’s brother – is accused of operating under the umbrella of the powerful Sinaloa cartel, along with Ruperto Salgueiro Nevarez, Jose Salgueiro Nevarez and Heriberto Salgueiro Nevarez.
They are charged in U.S. indictments for violation of U.S. drug laws, according to a statement by the State Department.
The Department of Justice on Friday announced indictments charging the men with violating international narcotics trafficking laws, including moving fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin.
Combating fentanyl smuggling has become a key priority for U.S. agencies https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-limited-chinese-cooperation-hindering-us-fentanyl-fight-congress-2021-08-24 as overdose deaths spiked to more than 93,000 in 2020, mostly linked to fentanyl, according to provisional data by the National Center for Health Statistics.
(Reporting by Cassandra Garrison; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)