Chinese Citizen Zhi Dong Zhang Arrested in Mexico City for Providing Chemicals for the Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartels
Why is the capture of Zhi Dong Zhang, broker for the CJNG and Sinaloa Cartel, as important as that of “El Chapo”?
In a coordinated operation without the use of weapons, Mexican security forces arrested Zhi Dong Zhang, a 50-year-old Chinese citizen and a central figure in the provision of chemical precursors for the Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) cartels.
Journalist Óscar Balderas, a security expert, said on Radio Fórmula that this capture is “the first major arrest of the six-year term” of President Claudia Sheinbaum, just 31 days into her administration. Balderas compared this blow with the captures of drug lords like Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, highlighting that “a drug lord like this is worth what a Chapo is worth, only without the publicity of Guzmán or El Mayo Zambada.”
Zhang was an intermediary who operated in the shadows, ensuring the flow of chemical inputs to synthetic drug laboratories in Mexico. These brokers, who act without flaunting their wealth, play a crucial role in supply logistics, sending precursors from countries like China and Bangladesh to Mexican ports to supply the cartels.
The arrest was the result of a joint effort between the SSPC, the Semar, the Sedena, and the FGR, carried out on October 30 in Mexico City. This operation is an example of unprecedented cooperation between Mexican agencies, promoted by the head of the SSPC, Omar García Harfuch, with a focus on inter-institutional collaboration and strategic intelligence.
Zhang’s arrest also represents a step forward in the relationship between Mexico and the US, who will coordinate his extradition to face charges in Atlanta, Georgia. Balderas said that this arrest could open a new stage of binational security cooperation under the Sheinbaum administration.
In the US, Zhi Dong Zhang faces charges of international drug trafficking, conspiracy, and money laundering, and is accused of exporting large quantities of drugs, as well as annual revenues exceeding 150 million dollars, using various aliases such as ‘Li Gong Sun Chang’, ‘Ku Li Hernández’, ‘Brother Wang’, among others.
Source: SDP Noticias
