Two men from the US state of New Jersey have been sentenced this week for their roles in a drug trafficking organisation that imported fentanyl analogues from China, the US Department of Justice said on Thursday.
The fentanyl crisis in the United States has killed tens of thousands of people annually in recent years. Washington previously characterised China as the primary source of precursor chemicals used to manufacture the drug, and Beijing felt unfairly targeted over the crisis.
Sean Tighe, 50, and Juan Rodriguez, 51, were among nine individuals charged and convicted for their roles in the organisation that imported more than one metric tonne of fentanyl-related substances and other drugs into the US.
Fentanyl analogues are chemically altered versions of the prescription opioid fentanyl, similar enough in chemical structure to mimic its effects.
The group sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to China using both wire transfers and bitcoin to pay for the drugs.
Five individuals have so far been sentenced to a total of 685 months in prison.
