The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged an individual with laundering over $12 million (€10.93 million) in narcotics to notorious drug overlord El Chapo through fake seafood companies, labeling the drugs as "sea cucumbers."

In a detailed report, the DOJ convicted Juan Alfaro, 52, of Hacienda, California, to 120 months in prison for laundering money to the drug leader through companies, disguising quantities of heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine on invoices and other documents as sea cucumbers.

The local organization trafficked thousands of kilograms of illegal narcotics throughout the United States, including Lockport, Niagara Falls, and Buffalo, according to the DOJ.

The companies, known as Triton Foods, Inc. and Kamora Investment Enterprises, Inc., were purportedly located in California. Another fictitious company, Corral Seafoods, LLC, was registered in New York.