U.S. Ramps Up Fentanyl Counterattack on Chinese Mainland, as DEA Faces Troubles at Home | RealClearInvestigations

U.S. drug agents are expanding operations in China six years after America s largest trading partner and global rival emerged as the main source of chemicals used to make highly lethal fentanyl. It s now claiming 65,000 American lives a year.

The small crew of about a dozen Drug Enforcement Administration agents, including those in new outposts in Shanghai and Guangzhou, is nearly double the number in 2018. They face what seems like mission impossible: collaborating with Chinese agents to try to bust traffickers hidden somewhere in a sprawling export supply chain that s linked to 160,000 companies. 

It s such a massive chemical industry, and then there are layer upon layer of traders, brokers and freight forwarders, says Russ Holske, the DEA s director for the Far East, who set up the new offices in China before he retired. It s a daunting challenge.

via www.realclearinvestigations.com

I’m sure seeing this as dark karma for the Opium Wars of the 19th century is a common observation by now.