Justice Department charges leaders of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel in sprawling fentanyl-trafficking probe

 (CNN) -- The Justice Department on Friday announced charges against more than two dozen defendants, including three sons of the notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, in a sprawling fentanyl-trafficking investigation.

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the charges at a news conference in Washington alongside Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Anne Milgram and other top federal prosecutors.

The indictments against the leaders of Mexico's powerful Sinaloa cartel were unsealed, including against Guzman's sons, who are known as the Chapitos, or little Chapos.

The fentanyl trafficking, weapons and money laundering charges in three indictments involved a total of 28 defendants: 23 of whom are based in Mexico, four in China and one in Guatemala.

Charges were filed against alleged chemical suppliers, lab managers, fentanyl traffickers, financiers and weapons traffickers. Among those charged are Chinese citizens accused of supplying precursor chemicals required to make fentanyl.

The-CNN-Wire
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