Fentanyl trafficking is big business in the Queen City. Feds want to run it dry.

Read the original article on the Charlotte Observer website.

By Julia Coin of the Charlotte Observer.

Charlotte, a U.S. banking hub, was one of the first cities targeted in by a federal Treasury Department program aimed at shutting down fentanyl suppliersโ€™ businesses.

Charlotteโ€™s fentanyl problem has prompted federal attention and intervention. Officials involved in a U.S. Treasury program rolled out under President Joe Biden met in Charlotte Wednesday to join private and public leaders โ€” from federal agents to sheriffs to bankers โ€” to learn how to better shut down fentanyl traffickersโ€™ business operations.

Charlotte โ€” the countryโ€™s second-largest banking center โ€” was one of the first seven U.S. cities the program, called PROTECT, visited since it launched in May. It is focused almost entirely on finding fentanyl dealers and suppliers and severing them from their money.

The U.S. Attorneyโ€™s Office for the Western District of North Carolina has a similar program in place, but the federal involvement will enhance how information is shared between private and public sectors โ€” or between federal agents, sheriffs and bankers, officials said. It is designed to give prosecutors more insight into how dealers move money, from quick ATM deposits to big bank account transfers.

Fentanyl has killed 37,000 North Carolinans in the last two decades, according to N.C. Department of Justice data.

The highly addictive and lethal synthetic opioid has flooded communities around Charlotte and overwhelmed local jails, police departments, courts and even classrooms, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.

Grassroots organizations, like the nonprofit Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina, tackle the trickle-down effect of fentanylโ€™s pervasiveness.

โ€œA person like me โ€” a person with a dead kid โ€” Iโ€™m worried about getting dealers off the street,โ€ said Barb Walsh, the executive director of the nonprofit.

The U.S. Treasury Department exists in a different sphere, she said, but those spheres canโ€™t stay separate for much longer.

โ€œIf thereโ€™s nobody else at the national level trying to help,โ€ she said, โ€œthen what weโ€™re doing wonโ€™t matter.โ€

Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo, in an interview with The Charlotte Observer, said the department is focused on cutting the drug off at its source.

โ€œIf you are a drug dealer or if you are someone whoโ€™s running a distribution network,โ€ he said, โ€œyou should know, and your family should know that weโ€™re going to come after the money you are making by selling these drugs into these communities and killing our local citizens.โ€

โ€˜We dropped the ballโ€™: Gaston County couple raises fentanyl awareness in memory of their son

Read the original article (with pictures) and watch the video on the Queen City News website.

GASTONIA, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) โ€“ Library shelves are full of all sorts of stories. Some have you on the edge of your seat, others make you laugh or answer pressing questions.

At the Dream Center in Gastonia, a photo book at the Austin Library is an introduction to a bigger story.

โ€œWe left one in the library so that students could see who Austin actually was. He was just like them, and that is what I like them to see,โ€ said Tammy Chowdhury.

Her son Austin Chowdhury was well-loved and well-read.

โ€œI feel like he was searching for answers in the world because he read all kinds of things,โ€ Tammy told Queen City News.

The Austin Library is a tribute to the young man who died of an accidental fentanyl overdose at 24.

โ€œIt was just a total shock, it didnโ€™t feel real,โ€ Tammy says, taking a breath as she relives that dark day.

Continue reading “โ€˜We dropped the ballโ€™: Gaston County couple raises fentanyl awareness in memory of their son”

Chinese money laundering operation deposited cartel money into Charlotte banks, feds say

CHARLOTTE โ€” Feds are charging five Chinese nationals with money laundering after they say the suspects were part of a Chinese money-laundering operation that assisted drug trafficking operations by depositing drug money into Charlotte banks. In March, a grand jury indicted Enhua Fang, Shu Jun Zhen, Jianfei Lu, Maoxuan Xia, and Shao Neng Lin. The federal court documents were unsealed last week.

Seamus Hughes, a founder of the PACER monitoring newsletter Court Watch, first flagged the arrests.

Court documents claim the ringleader was Fang. The court documents claim Fang would receive requests from Mexican drug-trafficking organizations for bulk cash pickups in the United States. They say she would then send couriers to locations throughout the United States to collect the money and deposit it into bank accounts across the country. Once the money was in the bank, federal investigators say the funds would be laundered, including through cryptocurrency accounts. An extensive investigation by the DEA and IRS brought all this to light.

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‘We are in the business of saving lives’ | NC leaders seeking solutions to the fentanyl crisis

State and local leaders held a press conference Wednesday to highlight strategies to mitigate the fentanyl epidemic in Mecklenburg County.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. โ€” Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden, Attorney General Josh Stein and other federal, state, and Charlotte leaders are seeking solutions to the fentanyl crisis.

Sheriff McFadden hosted a press conference Wednesday at the Mecklenburg County Detention Center in order to highlight some of the work done to combat the rise in fentanyl-related deaths.

According to the United States Department of Justice, the number of fentanyl seizures in 2024 represents over 82 million deadly doses.

Around 10 people die in North Carolina every day because of fentanyl, according to Stein. 

During the press conference, leaders discussed efforts by the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office to train staff members on administering Narcan. These efforts saved over a dozen lives this past year. 

โ€œPeople are dying from this drug thinking that theyโ€™re taking something simple, but itโ€™s laced with fentanyl,โ€ Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden said.

Also, in November of 2023, the Arrest Processing Center lobby received a Narcan vending machine, which is accessible to anyone. Additionally, Sheriff McFadden installed 39 Narcan alarm boxes that were placed in resident pods.

โ€œShould Narcan be in schools? Absolutely. In every classroom? Absolutely. At every nightclub? Absolutely, why? Because we are in the business of saving lives,” Sheriff McFadden said.ย 

Continue reading “‘We are in the business of saving lives’ | NC leaders seeking solutions to the fentanyl crisis”

CMS acknowledges teen drug use, will stock all public schools with Narcan

Narcan is the FDA-approved nasal form of naloxone for the emergency treatment of a known or suspected opioid overdose. News & Observer file photo

Teens and drugs. The phrase has long gone together, but, nowadays, each puff passed, pill crushed and line sniffed threatens death, not a shaking finger.

In response to the bleak reality students face โ€” where deadly opioids like fentanyl are easy to get and even harder to escape โ€” the overdose reversal drug naloxone will soon be stocked in every Charlotte public school.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board of Education unanimously approved the plan Tuesday, which was the first time the district openly addressed the topic of drug use among students.

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