The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on two Indian citizens for their alleged role in supplying counterfeit prescription pills laced with fentanyl and other illicit drugs to persons in the country.
The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control also designated one India-based online pharmacy for its role in the alleged criminal operations.
The foreign assets control unit identified Sadiq Abbas Habib Sayyed and Khizar Mohammad Iqbal Shaikh as key persons in an international network that allegedly pushed “hundreds of thousands” of counterfeit pills, projected as legitimate pharmaceutical products, into the US.
The pills were found to contain fentanyl, a fentanyl analogue and methamphetamine.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid blamed for widespread addiction in the US. The Donald Trump administration has launched a crackdown on its illegal imports, even linking the issue to tariff adjustments with some countries.
John K Hurley, the under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said that the action was taken to hold accountable persons who “profit from this poison”, adding that “too many families have been torn apart by fentanyl”.
The treasury department stated that fentanyl has been identified as the leading driver of the opioid crisis in the US, which has killed “hundreds of thousands” of citizens.
Sayyed and Shaikh worked with traffickers in the Dominican Republic and the US to distribute counterfeit pills, the department alleged.
They used encrypted messaging platforms to sell their products as discounted pharmaceuticals.
Both persons had been indicted in September 2024 by a federal grand jury in New York on narcotics-related charges.
On September 18, the US embassy in Delhi said it had revoked and denied visas to some Indian “business executives and corporate leaders” for their alleged involvement in trafficking fentanyl precursors. It did not name the persons or the companies involved.
A fentanyl precursor is a chemical used to manufacture fentanyl.
Earlier this month, Trump had named India, Pakistan and China among 23 major drug transit or producing nations, saying that the countries were threatening the safety of Americans.
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