Two Indian Companies Indicted In The U.S. For Importing Fentanyl Ingredients

Two Indian chemical companies have been indicted for importing ingredients used in the production of the highly addictive opioid fentanyl into the United States and Mexico, the US Department of Justice announced, Jonathan Stempel reported this development for Reuters.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid approximately 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more powerful than morphine.

Athos Chemicals and Raxuter Chemicals, both based in Gujarat, were charged in Brooklyn federal court with distributing fentanyl ingredients and conspiring to distribute them.

Additionally, Raxuter Chemicals and its senior executive, Bhavesh Lathiya, 36, faced charges of smuggling and introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce.

Lathiya was arrested on Saturday in New York and ordered to be detained pending trial after prosecutors argued he posed a flight risk and a significant danger to the community.

“The Justice Department is targeting every link in fentanyl trafficking supply chains that span countries and continents and too often end in tragedy in the US,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid approximately 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more powerful than morphine.