The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned two Indian nationals, Sadiq Abbas Habib Sayyed and Khizar Mohammad Iqbal Shaikh, along with an India-based online pharmacy, KS International Traders (also known as KS Pharmacy), for their involvement in supplying hundreds of thousands of counterfeit prescription pills laced with fentanyl and other illicit drugs to victims across the United States.

Sayyed and Shaikh worked with narcotics traffickers based in the Dominican Republic and the US to market these counterfeit pills as legitimate pharmaceutical products, such as Oxycodone, Adderall, and Xanax.

However, these pills were actually filled with dangerous substances including fentanyl, fentanyl analogues, and methamphetamine. They used encrypted messaging platforms to conduct their illegal operations and market their products to customers in the US.

Both individuals were previously indicted by a federal grand jury in September 2024 on narcotics-related charges in the Southern District of New York. Despite the indictment, Shaikh continued to operate KS International Traders, which functioned as a front for these criminal activities.

The US sanctions freeze any assets the individuals and pharmacy hold in the US or under US control and prohibit transactions involving them unless authorised. These sanctions aim to hold accountable those profiting from the opioid crisis and are part of the broader US efforts to combat fentanyl trafficking internationally, working in cooperation with India under the US-India Drug Policy Framework.

Fentanyl remains a leading cause of opioid overdose deaths in the US, particularly among people aged 18 to 45. The US efforts to curb fentanyl trafficking involve coordinated actions with multiple agencies, including the Department of Justice, DEA, Homeland Security Investigations, IRS Criminal Investigations, and the US Postal Inspection Service.

The counterfeit pills supplied not only worsened the opioid epidemic in the US but also highlighted the role of illegal online pharmacies based in India and elsewhere in supplying illicit drugs directly to US consumers and precursor chemicals to cartels, exacerbating the synthetic opioid crisis.

Based On ANI Report