Mexican drug cartels struggle during coronavirus, hike prices as lab supplies from China dry up
Article publisher:
Fox News
Article date:
31 March 2020
Article category:
National News
Medium
Article Body:
The onslaught of the coronavirus has not only sent the global economy tumbling — it has also hit the black market where it hurts, and Mexican cartels are no exception.
The outbreak of COVID-19 has sent the price of heroin, methamphetamines and fentanyl soaring, as the likes of the Sinaloa cartel – and its main rival, the Jalisco “New Generation” – struggle to obtain the necessary chemicals to make the synthetic drugs, which typically come from China and are now in minimal supply.
“The cartels have suffered from COVID-19 due to the inability to get the regular shipments of synthetic opioids and precursor chemicals for the massive production of meth from China,” Derek Maltz, a former special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Operations Division in New York, told Fox News....
China, where the virus originated late last year, has, for the most part, halted production on the chemicals required for the making of the drugs as it battles the virus within its own borders and battles to make medical supplies for other crumbling countries....