Chinese drug boss Zhi Dong Zhang was this close to the perfect getaway.
In July, Zhang escaped from house arrest in Mexico, where he was set to be extradited to the US on drug trafficking and money laundering charges. He then hopped on a private jet to Cuba and boarded a flight to Russia, beyond the reach of US and Mexican prosecutors. But authorities in Russia, perhaps not knowing Zhang’s true identity, refused him entry and ordered his immediate return to Cuba.
Now, Zhang is detained in Cuba, where authorities say they are planning to deport him back to Mexico but haven’t provided a date.
Officials familiar with the case believe Cuban authorities are taking their time with the deportation as the island’s vaunted intelligence agents methodically extract information about his vast criminal network in China, Mexico and the US. “They will squeeze all the information out of him and then give him to Mexico.”
The Mexican Attorney General’s office estimates that Zhang makes more than $150 million a year from his global trafficking network. US prosecutors in Georgia have charged him with laundering $20 millions through US banks between 2020 and 2021.
Zhang arrived in Mexico from China before the 2020 pandemic, married a Mexican woman and acquired Mexican citizenship. A fluent Spanish speaker, Zhang answers to many names. Among them: El Chino, Brother Wang, Hehe, Haha and Nelson Mandela.
wsj.com/world/americas
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Byron Wan
@Byron_Wan
Cuba has arrested Chinese fentanyl kingpin 
Zhi Dong Zhang, known by the alias "Brother Wang", who escaped from custody in Mexico and is also wanted by the US.
Zhang is alleged to have worked closely with Mexico's Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation drug cartels — designated
Show more Zhi Dong Zhang, known by the alias "Brother Wang", who escaped from custody in Mexico and is also wanted by the US.
Zhang is alleged to have worked closely with Mexico's Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation drug cartels — designated