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Amid Trump's tariff threats, US intel report links India to fentanyl trafficking
The Trump administration has initiated a crackdown on the illegal import of fentanyl and also linked it with tariff adjustments in the case of some countries.
The United States has named China and India as the primary sources for “illicit fentanyl precursor chemicals and pill pressing equipment”.
According to the Annual Threat Assessment report of the US Intelligence Community, fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are the most lethal drugs trafficked into the United States, causing more than 52,000 U.S. deaths in 12 months ending in October 2024.
“This represents a nearly 33 percent decrease in synthetic opioid-related overdose deaths compared to the same reporting time frame the previous year, according to CDC provisional data, and may be because of the availability and accessibility of naloxone,” the report released by the Office of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard stated.
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“Nonstate groups are often enabled, both directly and indirectly, by state actors, such as China and India as sources of precursors and equipment for drug traffickers,” the report stated in its foreword.
On March 21, an India-based chemical manufacturing company and three of its high-level employees were charged in a federal court in Washington DC in a case related to illegally importing precursor chemicals used to make illicit fentanyl.
According to a PTI report, federal agents also arrested two of the top-ranking employees of Hyderabad-based Vasudha Pharma Chem Limited (VPC) in New York City.
Fentanyl is a potent opioid drug that is blamed for widespread drug addiction in the US.
The Trump administration has initiated a crackdown on the illegal import of fentanyl and also linked it with tariff adjustments in the case of some countries.
ALSO READ: Tariff threats take aim at fentanyl trafficking. Here's how the drug reaches the US
According to an AP report, in his executive order on the first 10% tariff, Trump had accused China of subsidizing chemical companies to export fentanyl and related “precursor chemicals” and of providing a safe haven for Chinese criminal organisations that launder the revenues from the opioid trade.
Fentanyl seized at US-Mexico border down by 40%
The amount of fentanyl seized at the US-Mexico border fell dramatically since January to its lowest level since December 2021, Bloomberg quoted the new US Customs and Border Protection data.
Some 590 pounds of the deadly synthetic opioid were intercepted in February, down 40% on January’s 990 pounds.
(With agency inputs)
