3 arrested for alleged money laundering with Mexican cartels, Sumter sheriff’s office says

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After a multi-year investigation by federal, state and local agencies, three men in Sumter were arrested for their suspected involvement in money laundering for Mexico’s two dominant cartels. An additional suspect remains an active fugitive with connections to Dubai. 

In the early hours of Thursday, Jan. 23, personnel with Sumter County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Response Team,  SLED and United States Drug Enforcement Administration along with other federal law enforcement officials served search warrants for money laundering at two Broad Street businesses as well as residences on Rhododendron Street and Currituck Drive, according to Mark Bordeaux, public information officer with the sheriff's office.

Caspin Powers Adachi, 23, Fnu Naimullah, 32, and Nasir Ullah, 27, were simultaneously arrested, alongside an associate of theirs in Richland County, on charges pertaining to international and domestic money laundering for Mexico’s two dominant drug cartels – the Cartel Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa Cartel, Bordeaux said.

During the raids, deputies and special agents seized more than $230,000 in bulk cash, three vehicles, 11 firearms and large amounts of jewelry that totaled hundreds of thousands of dollars, Bordeaux said.

Investigators think the suspects worked directly with cartel-affiliated Chinese money launders who have operated in both South Carolina and Georgia and had been doing so for multiple years.

The Sumter-based network was reportedly receiving  bulk drug cash in excess of $15 million, which was used to purchase bulk amounts of electronics and export them to China and the Middle East, Bordeaux said.

This bulk drug cash largely came from fentanyl sales by Mexican drug dealers throughout the southeastern United States, Bordeaux said.

Adachi, Naimullah and Ullah were taken to Sumter County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center. After a hearing, Adachi and Ullah were released on $20,000 surety bond, and Naimullah was released on a $200,000 surety bond. Ullah faces additional charges in Richland County after being arrested in October 2024 while smuggling about $180,000, Bordeaux said. 

Mohammad Azam Khan, father of Ullah and Naimullah, remains an active fugitive and is thought to be in Dubai.

Puquan Huang, a Chinese national living in Gwinnett County, Georgia,  was also arrested and charged in connection to the case and will be extradited to South Carolina, according to Bordeaux.


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