Monitoring Desk: “The ANNUAL THREAT ASSESSMENT OF THE U.S. INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY March 2025” confirmed that India is a major source of precursors and equipment for drug traffickers.
cartels are largely responsible for the more than 52,000 U.S. deaths from synthetic opioids in the 12 months ending in October. Fentanyl and international drug gangs responsible for smuggling the deadly street drug rank among the top threats to U.S. national security. That’s according to an assessment delivered on Tuesday by top Trump administration officials to members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, reports NPR.
The US had been sharing information with New Delhi that Indian firms are behind smuggling “fentanyl precursors” to Mexico and Guatemala. Top executives of a Hyderabad-based pharma company have been indicted in the United States for unlawfully importing the precursors.
Names of Satishkumar Haresh Sutaria and Yukta Ashishkumar Modi, who are partners in three Surat-based pharma companies, were shared with India by US officials for their involvement in exporting fentanyl precursors — basic chemicals that form fentanyl, an opioid analgesic used in anesthesia.
Officials claimed that over the past year, the two accused smuggled at least 100 kg of fentanyl precursors out of India. The US Department of Justice also indicted Vasudha Pharma Chem Ltd and three of its employees on charges of illegally importing fentanyl precursors.
