U.S. indicts Canadians, Chinese in major drug bust

Five Canadians along with threeU.S. residents and two Chinese nationals have been indicted by the U.S. Department of Justiceon charges of making and selling highly addictivefentanylto Americans over theinternet.

Chinese nationals Xiaobing Yan, 40, and Jian Zhang, 38, were charged with conspiring to manufacture and distribute large quantities of fentanyl and similar drugs into the United States, the Justice Department said Tuesday. They were charged in separate indictments unsealed on Monday in Mississippi and North Dakota.

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"For the first time, we have indicted major Chinesefentanyltraffickers who have been using the internet to sellfentanylandfentanylanalogsto drug traffickers and individualcustomers in the United States," Deputy Attorney General RodRosensteinsaid in a statement.

Rosenstein described a "money laundering and international drug conspiracy" that broughtfentanyland other drugs into the U.S. from China.

"Agents and prosecutors traced the source of those illegal drugsfinding they had gone through Oregon and Canada," he said.

Rosensteindid not name the Canadian suspects, but commended the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for its efforts in the investigation, which also involved U.S. agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Homeland Security and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

"Fentanyl trafficking is a worldwide problem and clearly knows no borders," said RCMP Assistant Commissioner Joanne Crampton.

A spokesperson with the U.S. Department of Justice told CBC News the following Quebec natives were indicted, though their locations and the specific allegations in relation to the indictment were not immediately clear:

• Jason Joey Berry, 34.
• Xuan Cahn Nguyen, 38.
• Marie Um, 37.
• Vannek Um, 39.
• Linda Van, 25.

Berry is already serving a prison sentence for previous drug convictions, according to a recent Vice.com report.

The suspects also include two residents of Florida and a resident ofNew Jersey who, like the Canadians, were indicted in connection with Zhang's case.

An analogis a drug that is chemically similar in makeupto another.

Drug czar nominee withdraws

Earlier Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said his drug czarnominee, Rep. Tom Marino, a Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, hadwithdrawn his name from consideration.

Marino was cited in a joint Washington Post-CBS 60 Minutesreport on Sunday as spearheading legislation to neuter the DrugEnforcement Administration's power to crack down on opioidmanufacturers who were flooding the market with the addictivepainkillers.

The U.S. is dealing with a major epidemic of opioidoverdoses. In 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimatedthat 20,000 Americans were killed by fentanyl, a highlyaddictive synthetic painkiller.