A pair of Indian pharmaceutical companies have been charged by federal prosecutors in New York with smuggling chemicals used to make fentanyl into the U.S. and Mexico.

According to prosecutors, Raxuter Chemicals founder Bhavesh Lathiya discussed the sale of fentanyl precursor chemicals on a video call with an undercover Homeland Security officer in October 2024. A month later, the company allegedly shipped 20 kilograms of the chemicals to New York, which Raxuter had falsely labeled as an antacid. In February 2024, Athos Chemicals — where Lathiya had previously worked as a director until leaving to start Raxuter in 2022 — also allegedly agreed to sell 100 kilograms of a fentanyl precursor to a known drug trafficker in Mexico, before selling 100 grams of precursor to an undercover agent days later. 

“Our efforts to disrupt the global fentanyl supply chain are being fought on many fronts," New York Eastern District Attorney Breon Peace said in a January 6 news release. "My office will vigorously prosecute those pushers of poison, here and abroad, who are responsible for fueling our nation’s opioid epidemic without any regard for the extreme harm they are causing."

The CDC warns that fentanyl is roughly 50 times more potent than heroin, and 100 times stronger than morphine. U.S. authorities have previously gone after Chinese companies for illegally shipping precursor chemicals into the U.S., including 2023 charges against Amarvel Biotech, which allegedly exported "vast quantities" of precursors to drug cartel labs in Mexico.