The US government has charged four Chinese companies and eight Chinese individual for trafficking Fentanyl ingredients into the US, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday.
Two of the eight individuals have been arrested as Justice department intensifies its crackdown against the synthetic opioid responsible for killing thousands of Americans due to overdose.
The indictment marked the first ever instance when United States has charged Chinese companies for trafficking fentanyl precursor chemicals inside the United States, rather than shipping them to Mexico.
“These companies and their employees knowingly conspired to manufacture deadly fentanyl for distribution in the United States,” Garland said.
“Just one of these China-based chemical companies shipped more than 200 kilograms of fentanyl-related precursor chemicals to the US for the purpose of making 50 kilograms of fentanyl, a quantity that could contain enough deadly doses of fentanyl to kill 25 million Americans,” said Garland.
The announcement came just days after Secretary of State Antony Blinkin’s visit to China.
The four companies charged in three separate cases filed in federal court in New York were Hubei Amarvel Biotech, Anhui Rencheng Technology, Anhui Moker New Material Technology and Hefei GSK Trade. The eight individuals charged included the executive and employees of these companies.
The two individuals arrested in Hawaii by US officials are both employees of Hubei Amarvel Biotech.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more powerful than heroin and much easier and cheaper to produce.
It has largely replaced heroin and prescription opioids like oxycodone as a cause of overdoses. According to the US Centers for Disease Control, 110,000 Americans died from overdoses last year.
