ISTANBUL

The US Treasury Department announced Thursday that it imposed sanctions on multiple entities linked to a Mexican cartel.

The sanctions include five Mexican nationals and two Mexico-based entities linked to La Linea -- a Mexican drug trafficking organization responsible for trafficking fentanyl and other drugs into the US, it said in a statement.

La Linea started as an armed wing of the Juarez Cartel intended to help the drug trafficking organization defend its border territories in and around Ciudad Juarez in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, it said.

It today operates in Ciudad Juarez, where it has access to drug trafficking and human smuggling routes across the US-Mexico border, according to the Treasury Department.

"President Biden and Vice President Harris are committed to using every tool at our disposal to target and disrupt the cartels peddling deadly fentanyl on our streets," said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo. "If La Linea continues to directly contribute to the proliferation of deadly fentanyl throughout our communities, Treasury will continue to use every took in our arsenal to go after their criminal activity."

"The United States, in close coordination with our Mexican partners, remains committed to doing everything we can to hold these groups to account and to disrupt their ability to profit from and ultimately operate these criminal schemes," he added.

The Treasury Department said it has sanctioned more than 350 targets over the last two years for their involvement in drug trafficking activities at all stages of the supply chain, from major cartel leaders to labs, transportation networks, and chemical suppliers.