US Imposes Sanctions On 2 Ecuadorian, Mexican Cocaine Traffickers - Treasury

The US Department of the Treasury on Thursday announced in a press release that it has added a Mexican and an Ecuadorian national to its list of specially designated persons for engaging in illegal drug trafficking into the United States for the benefit of Mexican cartels

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th February, 2022) The US Department of the Treasury on Thursday announced in a press release that it has added a Mexican and an Ecuadorian national to its list of specially designated persons for engaging in illegal drug trafficking into the United States for the benefit of Mexican cartels.

"Today, the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Wilder Emilio Sanchez Farfan and Miguel Angel Valdez Ruiz pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 14059 for materially contributing to the illicit activities of major Mexican cartels to traffic cocaine into the United States," the release said.

Sanchez Farfan, a national of Ecuador, is one of the most significant drug traffickers in the world today and a major cocaine supplier to the Sinaloa cartel, the release said.

He is responsible for transporting tons of cocaine from manufacturing sites in Colombia to Ecuador and from there to the United States via Central America and Mexico, it added.

Valdez Ruiz is one of Farfan's assistants who imports cocaine from Ecuador and serves as an intermediary with the Sinaola cartel leader Ismael Zambada Garcia, the release said.

The US law requires blocking of all properties and interests in property of designated persons, which remain under US control. The sanctions regime also prohibits Americans citizens from having transactions with them, according to the release.