According to the U.S Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)’s National Drug Threat Assessment 2024, there is a dangerous shift from plant-based drugs to synthetic drugs, such as fentanyl and methamphetamine, which are cheap for drug cartels to manufacture and smuggle, and are incredibly potent in small doses.
While Mexico and China are the primary source countries for fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances trafficked directly into the U.S., India is emerging as a source for finished fentanyl powder and fentanyl precursor chemicals, the DEA stated in an intelligence report.
Most deadly drug crisis
The shift to synthetic drugs has resulted in the most dangerous and deadly drug crisis the U.S. has ever faced, which was responsible for nearly all of the fatal drug poisonings. Fentanyl, for example, killed nearly 38,000 Americans in the first six months of 2023 alone and users of other illegal drugs risk taking already dangerous drugs like cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamine laced or replaced with powder fentanyl.
Synthetic drugs are not subject to the same production challenges like weather and crop cycles for traditional plant-based drugs (e.g., cocaine and heroin). Therefore, they can be made anywhere, at any time, given the required chemicals and equipment and basic know-how.
As such, synthetic drugs have transformed not only the drug landscape but also the criminal landscape, as the two dominant Mexican drug cartels, the Sinaloa and Jalisco, reaped huge profits from their sale, and using these profits, expanded and diversified into other crimes.
The Sinaloa and Jalisco Cartels are transnational criminal organizations with global supply chain networks. They rely on chemical companies and pill press companies in China and India to supply the precursor chemicals and pill presses needed to manufacture the drugs in clandestine labs in Mexico. They then utilize their vast distribution networks to transport the drugs into the U.S. The ease and low cost of producing the drugs on a large scale in Mexico makes them highly profitable.
India emerges as source for precursor chemicals
Although, China-based suppliers are still the main source for the precursor chemicals used by the cartels in Mexico to produce illicit fentanyl and methamphetamine, India is also emerging as a major source country for these chemicals. Precursor chemicals are essential ingredients for the manufacture of synthetic drugs.
DEA’s analysis showed that precursor chemicals production shifted from China to India likely due in part to China’s new regulations of fentanyl and fentanyl precursors, the resulting difficulties in obtaining precursor chemicals, and the increasing pressure from Chinese authorities on fentanyl manufacturing operations.
This shift served as an important precedent. Fentanyl precursor trafficking from India to the cartels in Mexico, which is highly likely used in the production of finished fentanyl destined for sale in the U.S., might be poised to increase when more China-based traffickers work with Indian nationals to circumvent China’s new controls on fentanyl and precursors.
The cartels use a variety of tactics to conceal precursor chemical shipments coming into Mexico, including hiding the chemicals among legitimate commercial goods, mislabeling the containers, using front companies to create the appearance of legitimacy, or shipping through third-party countries.
India, U.S. cooperate to fight illicit drugs trafficking
In June 2023, the U.S. and India carried out a law enforcement operation to stop shipments of illicit pharmaceuticals, devices and precursor chemicals shipped using the international mail system.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations, DEA, and Postal Inspection Service, in collaboration with India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, conducted Operation Broader Sword, which stopped over 500 shipments of illicit, and potentially dangerous, unapproved prescription drugs, medical devices, and synthetic drug precursors from reaching American consumers.
Operation Broader Sword targeted packages entering the U.S. from India through the New York and Chicago International Mail Facilities from June 12 to 23. During the operation, investigators examined more than 1,500 shipments originating in India, taking action on approximately 500 products, including illicit and illegal medications intended to treat and or mitigate serious diseases.
Many shipments were determined to have included opioid and other controlled substance drug products. In anticipation of the Operation, Homeland Security special agents conducted a controlled delivery of a shipment of suspected products, resulting in the arrest of an Indian national for the illegal importation of illicit pharmaceuticals including opioids and other controlled substances.
“U.S. law enforcement and regulatory agencies already enjoy a strong working relationship with Indian counterparts under the bilateral Counternarcotics Working Group and now have expanded that cooperation to work closely under Operation Broader Sword,” said Mark Fredrick, DEA’s country attaché.
“Initiatives like Operation Broader Sword protect people in both the U.S. and India, helping India identify traffickers who either operate or seek to expand into India, and also helping India law enforcement strengthen protections against flows of illicit drugs that may harm Indian citizens.”
Bilateral, multi-agency efforts such as Operation Broader Sword serve not only to interdict illegal and potentially harmful products from reaching consumers in the U.S., but also provide information on shipping patterns and parties of interest that warrant additional enforcement actions.
Operation Broader Sword built upon the success of Operation Broadsword, which also targeted mail parcels containing illicit medical products from India, conducted in 2020, at Chicago International Mail Facilities.
In 2017, the DEA provided information to India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, resulting in the takedown of an illicit fentanyl laboratory in Indore, India in 2018. Between February and March 2018, the suspects shifted their production from China to India, likely due in part to China’s regulation of 4-anilino-N-phenethyl-4-piperidine (ANPP) and N-phenethyl-4-piperidone (NPP).
DEA’s intelligence indicated that an Indian national initially supplied the Sinaloa Cartel with fentanyl precursor chemicals NPP and ANPP, after which a Chinese national would synthesize the fentanyl and traffic it from India to Mexico.
In February 2018, India also announced controls on the exportation of ANPP and NPP, similar to previous regulations enacted by China, which will likely result in stricter controls on these precursors. In December 2018, the Mumbai Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) seized approximately 100 kg of NPP and arrested four Indian nationals in Mumbai, India.
According to the ANC, the NPP was destined for Mexico and deliberately mislabeled. This was the third seizure of a fentanyl-related substance or fentanyl precursor linked to Mexico in 2018, demonstrating growing links between Mexican cartels and India-based fentanyl precursor chemical suppliers.
India faces challenges
According to the U.S. Department of State’s International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 2023, India is a source, transit, and destination point for illicit narcotics and precursor chemicals for illicit drugs. The Indian government is determined to fight illicit drug production but faces resource, bureaucratic, and capacity obstacles. These challenges are compounded by India’s large and geographically dispersed pharmaceutical sector.
India is the largest producer of generic drugs in the world. Drug trafficking organizations thus exploited Indian technical expertize and the ready supply of chemicals to manufacture synthetic drugs and precursor chemicals.
Global demand for illicit synthetic drugs has given rise to criminals in India who retooled commercial chemical factories to produce large volumes of these drugs and their precursors illicitly. Illicit drugs and precursor chemicals sourced from India, including from illicit online pharmacies, can be found in Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, and the U.S.
The U.S. Department of State’s report also stated that inadequate training, equipment, staffing, high personnel turnover rates, and inconsistent interagency coordination constrained efforts to investigate illegal drug manufacturing and trafficking, and identify higher-level targets. Long delays in India’s court system complicated prosecutions.
Furthermore, a lack of legislation to support comprehensive drug regulation also impeded efforts by Indian law enforcement agencies to conduct complex drug conspiracy investigations. Regulatory processes were also slow and required the coordination of multiple agencies. As a result, regulations often lagged the development and proliferation of new chemical precursors that might be diverted to illicit synthetic drug production.
India expands international cooperation to curb illicit drug production
India has entered bilateral agreements with 36 countries providing cooperation to reduce demand and prevent the illicit trafficking of narcotics, psychotropic substances, and precursor chemicals. India is also a signatory to mutual legal assistance treaties with 41 countries, including the U.S., and maintains extradition treaties with at least 50 countries, including the U.S.
The NCB also shares information and coordinates with regional organizations, including the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Drug Offences Monitoring Desk, Colombo Plan, and the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Co-Operation.
The U.S. and India continue to expand cooperation on counter-drug issues, including convening, in July 2022, a third annual Counternarcotics Working Group meeting focused on law enforcement cooperation and public health, sharing of data and best practices, enhancing multilateral collaboration, drug demand reduction, and supporting India’s regional counter-narcotics leadership. This cooperation resulted in multiple joint arrests and high-value seizures in 2022.
The fight ahead
Synthetic drug use and addiction is one of the most devastating public health and geopolitical crises with widespread implications for the U.S. economy and national security. And the illicit manufacturing and trafficking networks in India could well proliferate as demand for synthetic drugs continues to grow.
A decade ago, the supply of illicit drugs was dominated by plant-based drugs, such as heroin and cocaine. Today, the drugs most responsible for killing Americans are illicit synthetic opioids like fentanyl and its analogues, which are easier to produce and transport and also are significantly more lethal. The nature of these drugs, and their ease of access and potency, presents a national security, public safety, and public health threat.
While the old trafficking structures of plant-based drugs still exist, the producers and traffickers of illicit synthetic drugs now regularly exploit lawful global commercial distribution networks to sustain and enhance their illicit business.
The harm caused by drug trafficking contributes to and compounds many ongoing global crises, from instability, violence, environmental degradation, and human rights abuse to fueling corruption and weakening the rule of law. This scourge of illicit synthetic drugs requires tough diplomacy and strong global cooperation to mitigate its impacts.
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