Canada missed its chance to stop a global fentanyl financier who was later caught in Cuba, allege intelligence sources.

For the original article this summary is based on, see the publisher’s website here: Chinese-Mexican Fentanyl Kingpin With Ties to Chinese Diplomats Reportedly Slipped Past Canadian Border Agents | The Bureau

In Brief by Probe International

Zhi Dong Zhang, a Chinese fentanyl kingpin with significant ties to Canada, was recently captured in Cuba after escaping from a Mexican jail. He reportedly entered Canada in 2017, where he was questioned about his connections to a money-laundering network and had contact information for Chinese diplomatic missions and lawyers in Canada.

The Bureau reports that Zhang, described by U.S. prosecutors as a transnational broker between China’s chemical-precursor industry and Mexico’s most powerful cartels — Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación — was captured in Cuba after unsuccessfully seeking refuge in Russia. However, a Canadian criminal-intelligence source informed The Bureau that Zhang, nicknamed “the Chexican” by Canadian agents, had flown into Vancouver International Airport in February 2017 using an illegally obtained Mexican passport.

Zhang was intercepted while transiting from Mexico City to Hong Kong with over $10,000 CAD in cash and 14 bank-security fobs, indicating connections to various financial institutions and legal intermediaries in Canada. The Bureau claims Zhang was released and permitted to leave the country due to what sources describe as “bungling” between CBSA and RCMP officers. Federal agencies failed to follow up on red flags suggesting he was an organized-crime financier, raising concerns about missed opportunities to disrupt his operations and prompting uncomfortable questions for Canadian enforcement in light of Zhang’s significant role in global narcotics and money-laundering networks, as highlighted in U.S. court filings and extradition efforts.

Zhang’s network has been linked to major Mexican cartels and extensive drug trafficking operations. His escape from custody in Mexico has drawn comparisons to notorious cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

‘Chexican’ Narco-Financier Ran New York Fentanyl Cell With Mexican Operatives, U.S. Indictment Shows

The Bureau | For the original article this summary is based on, see the publisher’s website here.

In Brief by Probe International

Newly unsealed U.S. government filings have identified Zhi Dong Zhang as an alleged global fentanyl kingpin with connections to Chinese diplomats in Canada, accused of supplying precursor chemicals and laundering funds for Mexico’s Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación cartels.

The Eastern District of New York indictment reveals that Zhang led a New York-based trafficking network involving fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine, coordinating operations with associates like Lorena Solano Castro and Christian Alan Soto Espinoza. His network reportedly moved multi-ton quantities of drugs between 2016 and 2021, utilizing U.S. financial institutions and Chinese underground banking to facilitate a hemispheric supply chain linking Chinese chemical exporters and Mexican super-labs.

Zhang was recently detained in Cuba following a dramatic escape from a Mexico City residence, where he had been under judicial supervision pending extradition to the U.S. Reports indicate he fled through a tunnel and attempted to reach Russia before being arrested in Cuba. A Canadian intelligence source revealed that Zhang had prior contact with Canadian authorities, having been stopped at Vancouver International Airport in 2017 with an illegally obtained Mexican passport, cash, and bank-security fobs, but was released due to miscommunication between Canadian law enforcement agencies. Investigators later connected him to Mexican mining firms involved in money laundering, further highlighting his extensive criminal network and operations in both Canada and Mexico.