Chinese national pleads guilty to cocaine smuggling, CJNG terror support

Wenshen Xu, a 52-year-old Honduras-based Chinese national, pleaded guilty to conspiring to import cocaine into the United States, conspiring to launder money derived from drug trafficking, and providing material support to a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization — the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) — according to the Justice Department.

According to court documents, Xu used a transportation network and contacts in Latin America to smuggle multi-kilogram loads of cocaine into the United States. That network included access to airstrips, airports, armored cars, couriers and other associates. Court documents state that on July 17, 2025, Xu and others agreed to arrange and facilitate the transportation of a multi-kilogram load of cocaine out of Cali, Colombia, on behalf of an individual who claimed to represent CJNG. According to court documents, Xu and his co-conspirators ultimately imported more than 450 kilograms of cocaine into the United States.

In addition to the drug trafficking conspiracy, court documents state that Xu and his associates coordinated the laundering of more than $22 million generated from the sale of cocaine and fentanyl by drug trafficking organizations. According to the Justice Department, the money laundering network relied on a variety of concealment methods, including cryptocurrency money transfers, trade-based money laundering and encrypted communications platforms.

Xu was arrested in Guatemala City, Guatemala, on July 17, 2025, at the request of the United States and was extradited to the United States on Jan. 30, officials said. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 15 and faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge Cindy Marx of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Special Operations Division.

The case is being investigated by the DEA’s Special Operations Division, Bilateral Investigations Unit, with assistance from the DEA’s Office of Special Intelligence, Document and Media Exploitation Unit, DEA offices in Guatemala and Colombia, the Colombian National Police and the Guatemalan National Police. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala also provided significant assistance in securing Xu’s arrest and extradition, according to officials.

Trial Attorney Chelsea R. Rooney of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section, along with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Edgardo J. Rodriguez and Christopher M. Carter for the Eastern District of Virginia, are prosecuting the case.

Officials said the prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative established by Executive Order 14159, “Protecting the American People Against Invasion.” The initiative is a whole-of-government partnership focused on eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad.

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