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Fentanyl precursors labelled as Vit C, shipped to US, then Mexico. Inside US indictment of 2 Surat firms

Raxuter Chemicals & Athos Chemicals have been charged with criminal conspiracy. Part of probe also involved undercover agents posing as buyers, striking a deal with Raxuter founder.

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New Delhi: Investigations into two Surat-based Indian companies selling banned fentanyl precursors involved video calls where undercover agents posed as customers, recording discussions on mislabeling fentanyl precursors as antacids, and the shipment of these precursors to US and Mexican drug trafficking organisations.

The two firms, Raxuter Chemicals and Athos Chemicals, have been charged with criminal conspiracies to import fentanyl precursor chemicals into the US and then to Mexico. Additionally, Bhavesh Lathiya, also known as Bhavesh Patel, the founder and senior executive of Raxuter Chemicals, who was arrested in New York this January, faces the same charges.

Fentanyl is a highly addictive synthetic opioid that is approximately 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. It is produced with a series of chemical reactions, the methods for which are called ‘pathways’, and each pathway to fentanyl requires the combination of several component chemicals, which are known as “precursors”.

According to the indictment, Raxuter is a Surat-based company founded in 2022 and registered with the Indian Directorate General of Foreign Trade as an importer and exporter in October of the same year. Athos, also based in Surat, was established in 2019 and registered with the DGFT in December 2022.

The indictment filed by the US Department of Justice, now unsealed, and seen by ThePrint, shows that the prosecution has accused the companies and Lathiya of mislabeling fentanyl precursors, using e-commerce to reach customers, and submitting false records to Customs.

The accused, along with others, intentionally engaged in a scheme since at least last February to distribute fentanyl precursors and other chemicals, knowing that their products would be imported to the US, in violation of the law, and used to manufacture fentanyl, according to the indictment.

The indictment also mentions that Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids kill nearly 80,000 Americans each year, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The drug, a Schedule II controlled substance, considered the ‘deadliest’ drug threat for the US, is increasingly available in various forms like a single substance, in mixtures with other illicit drugs (combined with heroin, cocaine and/or methamphetamine), and in forms that mimic pharmaceutical preparations, such as prescription opiates and benzodiazepines.

“Much of our nation’s illicit fentanyl crisis can be traced to bad actors overseas who knowingly and illegally traffic precursor chemicals to North America, where cartels refine them into deadly narcotics and wreak immeasurable heartbreak and destruction on so many American communities,” said Alejandro N. Mayorkas, Secretary, Department of Homeland Security.


Also read: Over 560 kg cocaine seized. What we know so far about one of Delhi police’s biggest drug busts


Mislabelling, discreet deals

The indictment against Lathiya and Raxuter says that Lathiya had on 10 April, 2024, sent an email to an undercover agent (UC1) who was posing as a prospective purchaser of fentanyl precursors, stating that the packages shipped to the US by his company containing such precursors could be made more discreet by changing the name of the product to ascorbic acid or vitamin C.

It adds that on 29 June, 2024, a package was shipped to New York which had a false manifest listing the items inside as Vitamin C, even though it actually had 1-boc-4-piperidone, an unlawfully imported key fentanyl precursor.

Another package was allegedly shipped by Raxuter to New York on 14 July containing “a metal bottle” with a clear liquid and the items were listed as bromoethyl benzene. This, the indictment, says tested positive for aniline, a toxic and combustible chemical.

On 2 and 15 October last year, Lathiya allegedly discussed the further sale of fentanyl precursors during video calls with the undercover agent. The agent informed him that the clients in Mexico “were happy with the quality” and “the yield they got of the final product”. In response, Lathiya agreed to sell 20 kg of piperidone and proposed that the packages be listed as antacids.

Meanwhile, Athos Chemicals is accused of using its online presence to sell fentanyl precursors without openly listing them on its website, the indictment notes. Instead, it responded to customer solicitations through an e-commerce platform based in India, fulfilling orders for 1-boc-4-piperidone. The indictment further states that on 20 February, 2024, Athos agreed to sell 100 kg of the fentanyl precursor to a known drug trafficker in Mexico, identified as “Mexico Buyer 1” in the indictment. This Mexico buyer is accused of manufacturing fentanyl with other drug trafficking organisations.

Around 4 March, 2024, Athos agreed to sell more than 100 grams of the fentanyl precursor to an undercover agent (UC 1) and shipped the same to New York. Again, around 6 May, it agreed to sell 2 kg of the precursor and shipped the same.

“We allege these companies, and a company founder and senior executive who is now in custody, conspired to distribute and import fentanyl precursor chemicals from India to the United States and Mexico,” stated Attorney General Merrick B. Garland.

(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)


Also read: Indian-origin man arrested in Canada’s ‘largest’ drug lab bust, nearly 400 kg of meth seized


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