US Treasury Launches New Financial Force to Combat Illegal Fentanyl Trade

The US Treasury Department has announced the launch of the Counter-Fentanyl Strike Force to combat the illegal trading of fentanyl and detect the financial networks that help cartels.  

The US Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, announced the establishment of a new task force to deal with financial networks that are supporting illegal fentanyl trade. The Counter-Fentanyl Strike Force crackdown cartels and drug traffickers that support the creation of a funnel for illegal traders to enter the medicines in the United States. According to the Treasury Department, the new force will collaborate with the department and enhance the resources across the agency to prevent illicit financial flow that backs the fentanyl trader. Janet Yellen stated, “the Treasury Department’s Counter-Fentanyl Strike Force will allow us to bring the Department’s unrivalled expertise in fighting financial crime to bear against this deadly epidemic. The Treasury will use every tool at its disposal to disrupt the ability of drug traffickers to peddle this poison in our country.”

The department’s senior officers, including Brian Nelson and the chief of Internal Revenue Service’s criminal investigation unit, will lead the strike force. It will streamline the investigation for the department and strengthen the resources by using financial intelligence to understand AML measures, as well as loopholes in the fentanyl trader to detect bad actors in the industry. The aim of the strike force is to identify illicit cash flows by combining analytic expertise in the Treasury Department and designing the latest strategies to halt money laundering and illegal fentanyl traders. They also gather in-depth information during foreign trades to comply with international standards and conclude the company’s risk assessment. Brain Nelson stated, “on visits to the US Southwest border this year, I saw firsthand how Treasury tools make a difference in disrupting the flow of illicit narcotics into the United States. The Strike Force will act quickly and decisively with the top specialists across the Department to nimbly respond to the newest threats.”

Investigators from the Treasury Department can access adequate data about the financial trade and share it with Drug Enforcement Agencies and the Department of Homeland Security, which support them in identifying illegal trade, including preventing illicit fentanyl trade and drug trafficking. Moreover, Yellen and Nelson planned to visit Mexico this week to discuss a new legal framework with their agencies and financial institutes. The robust legal framework disrupts the illicit cash flow, which is fueling the trade of fentanyl into the United States.

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