Key Summary
- The US government has imposed visa restrictions on 14 people for illicit fentanyl sale to Americans.
- The US authorities have restricted 14 members of KS International Traders.
- They had identified two Indian nationals and an online pharmacy that supplied illegal fentanyl-laced pills during September last year.
The US government has imposed visa restrictions on 14 people, including the owner of an India-based online pharmacy, along with 13 associates, for illicit fentanyl sale to Americans.
The US authorities have restricted 14 members of KS International Traders under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said that the Indian firm had generated revenue through fentanyl trafficking, which has spiked the country’s opioid crisis.
"This action underscores the United States' and India's enduring and shared commitment to dismantling illicit drug entities and disrupting trafficking networks that harm Americans. Those complicit in poisoning Americans will be denied entry to the United States,” Pigott said.
The US authorities had identified two Indian nationals and an online pharmacy that supplied illegal fentanyl-laced pills during September last year.
According to the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Sadiq Abbas Habib Sayyed, Khizar Mohammad Iqbal Shaikh, and KS International Traders (KS Pharmacy) had worked with traffickers in the US and Dominican Republic will face the legal consequences.
The counterfeit pills sold by them reportedly contained fentanyl, fentanyl analogues, and methamphetamine.
Many other Indians have recently been captured for such illegal drug-related activities in the US.
Last month, OFAC captured an India-based pharmaceutical chemicals supplier named Satishkumar Hareshbhai Sutaria for selling unauthorised fentanyl precursors used to make illegal fentanyl, followed by the arrest of Yuktakumari Ashishkumar Modi, who supported Sutaria in sales and shipping.
As per the OFAC’s investigation, both of them used other India-based companies, SR Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals (SR Chemicals) and Agrat Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals (Agrat Chemicals) for their trade.
These actions emphasise India’s and the United States’ strong commitment to fighting illicit drug trafficking practices that harm Americans by banning such traders from entering the US.
