“Cambodian and U.S. anti-drug agencies have uncovered a network that authorities say uses cryptocurrency to launder money for Mexico’s notorious Sinaloa Cartel, officials from both countries said Friday.”
“Meas Vyrith, secretary-general of Cambodia’s National Authority for Combating Drugs, told The Associated Press that his office had confiscated about $7 million in cryptocurrency linked to the Sinaloa Cartel, a powerful criminal conglomerate designated a ‘foreign terrorist organization’ by the Trump administration.”
“He said Cambodian anti-drug police working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration also made several arrests and seized assets, drug laboratories and storage facilities. Authorities also confiscated over 200 kilograms (440 pounds) of illegal drugs and more than one metric ton (2,200 pounds) of precursor chemicals used to produce them…”
“Cambodia serves largely as a transit area for drugs such as methamphetamine that originate in the Golden Triangle, the region where the borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet.”
“In 2024, U.S. federal prosecutors said the Sinaloa Cartel worked with Chinese underground banking groups in the United States to launder more than $50 million from the sale of fentanyl, cocaine and other drugs.”