The United States Department of Justice announced Monday that two Indian chemical companies had been charged with bringing ingredients for the highly addictive narcotic fentanyl into the United States and Mexico.

In Brooklyn, Athos Chemicals and Raxuter Chemicals, both Gujarat-based, were accused of plotting to distribute the materials and distributing them. Raxuter and senior executive Bhavesh Lathiya, 36, have been charged with smuggling and introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce. Lathiya was arrested on Saturday in New York. Prosecutors argued that he was a flight risk and a serious danger to the community, so he was ordered to remain in detention until his trial.

"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 United States," US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. A federal public defender representing Lathiya chose not to comment. Athos and Raxuter did not respond to similar requests outside of business hours. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. Opioids were responsible for around 82,000 deaths in the US in 2022, which is ten times more than in 1999, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to the prosecution, the defendants have been supplying "precursor" chemicals that they knew would be used to produce fentanyl since February 2024. They have concealed their activities by providing false declarations at border crossings, mislabelling parcels and fabricating customs documents. Prosecutors stated that since February 2024, the defendants provided chemicals, known as "precursors," which they knew would be used to produce fentanyl. They tried to cover up their actions by mislabeling packages, falsifying customs documents, and making false declarations at border crossings. According to one indictment, Lathiya agreed to sell 20 kg of the precursor chemical 1-boc-4-piperidone and proposed mislabeling them as an antacid over video chats in October 2024 with an undercover agent masquerading as a fentanyl factory.

Lathiya took this action after the agent informed him that his clients in Mexico were "very happy with the quality of what you sent me," as well as with the "yield" from the subsequent fentanyl, according to the indictment. The other charge stated that in February, Athos agreed to sell 100 kilograms of the same chemical to a known drug trafficker in Mexico, who was producing fentanyl as part of a drug trafficking organization. Lathiya could face up to 53 years in prison if convicted, according to the Justice Department.