This Thursday, Havana returned Zhi Dong Zhang to Mexico, and he is now in the Washington
14ymedio, Madrid, October 24, 2025 — The capo of fentanyl, “Brother Wang,” is now in the US. Zhi Dong Zhang, a Chinese national, first left Havana, where he had been arrested on 31 July 2025, according to a statement made public yesterday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The authorities spoke for the first time about the arrest and extradition of the drug trafficker, returned to Mexico at the request of that country and “by decision of the Cuban government,” says the statement.
The brief communication also states that Zhi “was arrested for offenses committed in the national territory of document forgery and human trafficking, as provided for in the Cuban Penal Code, and he was under provisional detention. Since July 2025 he has been a fugitive from the Mexican authorities, a country where he was serving a sentence for crimes associated with international drug trafficking.”
Shortly thereafter, Mexican Security Secretary, Omar García Harfuch, confirmed his surrender to Washington, which had him targeted as a priority because of his international criminal drug trafficking network, which cooperated with the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels.
Washington had Zhi targeted as a priority because of his international criminal drug trafficking network, which cooperated with the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels
Harfuch made the result public through his X account with an unusual gesture: he thanked Cuba “for its valuable collaboration.” “As a result of investigations, international cooperation and coordination, on October 30, 2024, the Mexican authorities of the Security Cabinet of the Government of Mexico arrested in Mexico City Zhi Dong “N,” identified as responsible for international drug trafficking, money laundering and alliances with criminal groups present in the Americas, Europe and Asia, and who has a Red Notice from Interpol,” he explained.
“On July 11, 2025, he escaped from the authorities after a judge granted him house arrest, so a search operation was implemented and international bodies were alerted. He was arrested in Cuba on July 31, along with two other persons, and today he has been handed over to US authorities as a result of efforts made by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Republic of Mexico,” he adds, listing all the Mexican security forces that participated in the operation, as well as the institutions.
Zhi has at least one case pending in Georgia — the charges were upheld by a federal court six days after his escape — which accuses him of having laundered at least 20 million dollars in the country through 150 shell companies and 170 bank accounts between 2020 and 2021. The arrest of one of his partners, Ruipeng Li, made it possible to determine how Zhi operated the criminal network and collected money through it from the sale of the drug and laundered it in China.
The arrest of one of his partners, Ruipeng Li, made it possible to determine how he operated the criminal network through which Zhi, inside a Mexican cell, collected money from the sale of fentanyl and laundered it in China
At this point in the investigation, they knew how the money transfers were made and what the products were called — “coffee” was fentanyl and “food” was cocaine — and that 2,000 kilos of the first and 1,000 of the second had been moved.
Zhi was arrested in Mexico in October 2024 and placed in a maximum security prison, but a judge decided to grant him house arrest under military custody, a measure that ended up favoring his escape on July 11, 2025. According to the Mexican press, while the precautionary measure was being applied for, his partners tunneled into the house and, once granted, the authorities did not properly review the conditions of the property.
Brother Wang, also known as El Chino, Tocayo, Pancho and Nelson Mandela, had several false identities and tried to reach Russia with a fake passport but failed. He then went to the Island in the same way, but there he was arrested and taken into custody. According to some Mexican analysts, the Island could have used Zhi to get some diplomatic oxygen at a very delicate geopolitical moment, when its biggest allies on the continent are being besieged by the US.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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