Inmates helped run worldwide fentanyl ring: officials
Probe uncovers massive ring of fentanyl dealers
It could easily have been overlooked as another sad-but-inevitable outcome of the fentanyl scourge sweeping North America.
But the overdose death of an 18-year-old in North Dakota in early 2015 sparked a global investigation that has uncovered a massive illicit drug-distribution network spanning the U.S., Canada and China.
On Tuesday, federal prosecutors in the U.S. announced that charges had been laid against several people — including five Canadians — in the still-unravelling case. Indictments allege the buying and selling of synthetic drugs took place over the dark web using virtual currencies and a slew of aliases, such as “Phantom Pharma” and “Toxic Storm.”
According to court documents, two individuals — a Canadian and a Colombian national — helped orchestrate the movement of drugs while they were serving time in Quebec’s Drummond Institution, a medium-security prison.
“Synthetic drugs, in particular fentanyl, are a major threat to both our countries,” Joanne Crampton, assistant commissioner with the RCMP, which assisted in the investigation, said at a press conference in Washington, D.C.
“Fentanyl trafficking is a worldwide problem — it knows no borders. We must intercept drugs before they reach our communities.”
The investigation began in January 2015 following the death of Bailey Henke, 18, in Grand Forks, N.D. He had overdosed on powdered fentanyl while playing video games with his buddies.
Local authorities learned that the drugs had been purchased online from a seller in Portland, Ore.
The seller, in turn, told investigators he acquired the drugs from Canada.
His point of contact, according to court documents, was Daniel Vivas Ceron, a Colombian national who, at the time, was serving a sentence in Quebec for attempted murder. He said he communicated with Vivas Ceron via email and WICKR, an app that encrypts messages and deletes them after a certain period of time.
An undercover U.S. Homeland Security investigator began to communicate with Vivas Ceron, negotiating multiple purchases of fentanyl using bank wires and Bitcoin virtual currency. The drugs were shipped to the undercover agent from Canada and China.
In June 2015, officials searched Vivas Ceron’s prison cell and recovered a phone, SIM cards and documents containing notes of his correspondence with undercover agents (he was already the subject of an ongoing investigation by another law enforcement agency when Homeland Security became involved), according to court records.
The following month, as Vivas Ceron was in the process of being deported to Colombia, he was rearrested in Panama City under a U.S. warrant. Vivas Ceron, 36, was extradited to North Dakota earlier this year and is awaiting trial.
Meanwhile, investigators set their sights on other people in the network. On Tuesday, federal prosecutors in North Dakota and Mississippi announced grand juries returned indictments against two Chinese nationals accused of being involved in the manufacture of fentanyl and fentanyl analogues, and five Canadians and three Americans accused of being involved in trafficking and distribution.
One of the Canadians, Jason Joey Berry, 34, of Quebec, was incarcerated at Drummond Institution in Quebec at the same time as Vivas Ceron and is identified in court documents as having a leadership role. The other four Canadians, all from Quebec, were identified as: Xuan Cahn Nguyen, 38; Marie Um, 37; Vannek Um, 39; and Linda Van, 25.
The two Chinese nationals are Xiaobing Yan, 40, and Jian Zhang, 38.
Zhang, court documents say, operated under the business name “Zaron Bio-tech” and played a leadership role.
Yan operated websites using different names and company identities and also operated at least two chemical plants in China capable of producing fentanyl and fentanyl analogues, it was alleged. Federal prosecutors said he monitored legislation and law enforcement activities in the U.S. and China, “modifying the chemical structure of the fentanyl analogues he produced to evade prosecution.”
“(Zhang and Yan) and their respective associates represent one of the most significant drug threats facing the country — overseas organized crime groups capable of producing nearly any synthetic drug imaginable, including fentanyl, and who attempt to hide their tracks with web-based sales, international shipments and cryptocurrency transactions,” said Robert Patterson of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Prosecutors allege these drugs were shipped from Canada and China and then distributed across the U.S., resulting in the deaths of Henke in North Dakota, and at least three other deaths in North Carolina, New Jersey and Oregon.
The allegations have not been proven in court.
At least 10 other individuals in North Dakota and Oregon have already pleaded guilty in connection with the investigation.