US launches prosecutions of Chinese companies accused of trafficking fentanyl ingredients

The US Justice Department charged four Chinese firms and eight individuals on Friday with allegedly trafficking the ingredients required to manufacture the highly addictive painkiller fentanyl in the US and Mexico. The three separate charges, which were unsealed in federal court in New York, are the first to charge China-based chemical corporations and Chinese nationals with illegally distributing the chemicals used to make fentanyl, which has been blamed for a deadly overdose crisis. A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy condemned the charges, accusing the U.S. government of seeking to shift the blame for its domestic drug problem. Federal prosecutors said…