The United States government has sanctioned four individuals affiliated with La Nueva Familia Michoacana, LNFM, a Mexican cartel designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
The Department of the Treasury, in a press release on Tuesday, stated that the Specially Designated Global Terrorists poisoned citizens by trafficking fentanyl and other illicit drugs into America.
The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, OFAC, said LNFM’s crimes also include the smuggling of illegal aliens, violence against its rivals and Mexican security forces, and the use of drones, bombs, and conventional firearms.
Those sanctioned, according to OFAC, are all siblings and include the “notorious co-leaders” Johnny Hurtado Olascoaga and Jose Alfredo Hurtado Olascoaga, both indicted by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Georgia.
The Department of State has offered rewards of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Johnny Olascoaga, and up to $3 million for information on Jose Olascoaga.
The Treasury Department said the action underscores its commitment to intensify pressure on organizations that continue to traffic deadly drugs, smuggle illegal aliens across the Southwest border, and attack law enforcement.
“The Trump Administration will continue to use all available tools to target the cartels and other violent organizations that attempt to exploit our communities and harm Americans,”; said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Based in the Mexican states of Guerrero and Michoacán, the LNFM is blamed for contributing to the circulation of fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine in the U.S., and for laundering the proceeds through the U.S. financial system.
The operation against the cartel involved the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Department of Justice, Homeland Security Investigations, the Department of State, and Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit, La Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera.
