Two indictments were unsealed Monday and Saturday, charging India-based companies Raxuter Chemicals and Athos Chemicals Pvt. Ltd. and Bhavesh Lathiya, a founder and senior executive of Raxuter Chemicals, with criminal conspiracies to distribute and import fentanyl precursor chemicals to the United States.
Lathiya was arrested on January 4 in New York City and arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph A. Marutollo for the Eastern District of New York. Lathiya was ordered detained pending 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,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland.
“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 Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas.
Fentanyl, a Schedule II controlled substance, is the deadliest drug threat currently facing the United States. It is a highly addictive synthetic opioid that is approximately 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine.
Fentanyl is designated as a Schedule II controlled substance while various precursors that can be used to produce fentanyl are included on the controlled substance schedules List I and List II.
Raxuter Chemicals and Lathiya are charged with conspiracy to distribute and import a listed chemical, distribution and importation of a listed chemical knowing it would be used to manufacture fentanyl, smuggling, and other related offences.
Athos Chemicals is charged with similar offences, including conspiracy to distribute and import a listed chemical and distribution and importation of a listed chemical.
As alleged in the indictments and court filings, the defendants supplied precursor chemicals to the United States and Mexico, among other places, knowing they would be used to manufacture fentanyl.
They also sent their chemical products to the United States and Mexico using international mail and package carriers.
The chemicals distributed by the defendants included all the materials necessary to manufacture fentanyl via the most common methods or pathways. To prevent detection and interception of chemical products at the borders, the defendants employed deceptive and fraudulent practices, such as mislabeling packages, falsifying customs forms, and making false declarations at border crossings.
For example, on or about June 29, 2024, a package shipped by Raxuter Chemicals was delivered to an address in the Eastern District of New York. The package had a false manifest that listed its contents as Vitamin C. In truth, the contents were a List I chemical, 1-boc-4-piperidone, an unlawfully imported fentanyl precursor.
On or about October 2, 2024, and October 15, 2024, Lathiya appeared on a video call to discuss the sale of fentanyl precursor chemicals with a Homeland Security Investigations undercover officer.
After being told by the undercover officer that his “clients in Mexico were very happy with the quality of what you sent me” and with “the yield they got of the final product,” Lathiya agreed to sell 20 kilograms 1-boc-4-piperidone, which is a List I chemical used in fentanyl synthesis. Lathiya also proposed mislabeling the chemical as an antacid.
The undercover officer replied and asked if it would be easier to ship the product to Mexico, stating “This is a very controversial product … Because like you said it’s banned and in Mexico I think it could be easier but there’s so much pressure on them because of fentanyl.”
On or about November 23, 2024, Raxuter Chemicals and Lathiya shipped approximately 20 kilograms of 1-boc-4-piperidone to the Eastern District of New York. The package was mislabeled as an antacid.
In addition, on or about Feb. 20, 2024, Athos Chemicals agreed to sell 100 kilograms of 1-boc-4-piperidone to a known drug trafficker in Mexico who was making fentanyl in association with a drug trafficking organization.
Mexican drug trafficking organisations, including but not limited to the Sinaloa Cartel, have increasingly availed themselves of the fentanyl precursors developed and distributed by companies like the defendants.
The chemicals provided by the defendant companies have enabled such cartels and other drug trafficking organizations to produce fentanyl in clandestine laboratories in Mexico on a massive scale for subsequent distribution in the United States and elsewhere.
If convicted, Lathiya faces a maximum penalty of 53 years in prison.
