Key facts
- Zhang Zhidong, also known as 'Brother Wang', is a Chinese national accused of being a major fentanyl trafficker.
- He allegedly established a supply chain for fentanyl ingredients from China to Mexico.
- Zhang was arrested in Mexico in 2024, escaped, and was extradited to the U.S. in 2025.
- A federal indictment from 2017 charged him with manufacturing and selling fentanyl and its analogues.
- The U.S. Department of State is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the U.S. Department of State have announced a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Chinese national Zhang Zhidong, also known as 'Brother Wang'. Zhang is accused of being a key leader of a transnational criminal organization that manufactured and trafficked fentanyl and its analogues into the United States and Canada.
According to a 2017 federal indictment, Zhang, the owner of Zaron Bio-Tech in Shandong Province, China, utilized the internet to advertise and sell illicit controlled substances. His organization allegedly manufactured fentanyl and fentanyl analogues in at least four labs in China and shipped thousands of orders to customers in the U.S. and Canada through mail and international parcel delivery services. The substances imported by Zhang's organization resulted in overdose deaths and serious injuries.
In a superseding indictment in January 2018, Zhang was further charged with continuing criminal enterprise, drug trafficking conspiracy, and international money laundering conspiracy. Several U.S. nationals involved in the conspiracy have already been convicted and sentenced to lengthy prison terms.
Zhang, a graduate of Peking University, initially worked in Mexico for a Chinese-owned iron ore mining company before allegedly becoming involved in the drug trade. He was arrested in Mexico in 2024, escaped, and was recaptured and extradited to the U.S. in 2025. He is currently awaiting trial in New York, where he has pleaded not guilty to the charges.