Multiple Chinese Manufacturers Charged With Fentanyl Trafficking

Four Chinese chemical companies are accused of conspiring with drug traffickers to manufacture fentanyl for distribution in the US, according to three indictments unsealed Friday in federal courts in New York.

Hubei Amarvel Biotech Co., also known as AmarvelBio, is facing charges in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Hefei GSK Trade Co. and Anhui Moker New Material Technology Co., and its affiliate Anhui Rencheng Technology Co., were charged in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Altogether, there are eight Chinese nationals charged.

Two of the individual defendants have been arrested, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said at a noon press conference.

AmarvelBio allegedly shipped more than 200 kilograms of precursor chemicals to the US in under eight months.

Unbeknownst to the company, the shipments were made to undercover DEA agents. Had the precursor compounds made it to real traffickers, they could have been used to manufacture enough fentanyl and fentanyl analogues to kill 25 million Americans, Garland said.

The companies allegedly marketed the availability of the compounds on social media, and advertised that they would mislabel the shipped product to thwart intervention by law enforcement. The products were shipped disguised as other products, including raw cosmetic materials and food additives, prosecutors say.

Hefei, Rencheng, and Moker allegedly went a step further, adding masking molecules to the precursor chemicals. Changing the chemical signature of the compounds makes it more difficult for law enforcement to detect.

The chemicals are shipped around the world, including to traffickers in the US and Mexico, where the precursors are used to synthesize finished fentanyl, according to the indictments.

Mexican drug trafficking organizations, including the Sinaloa and the New Generation Jalisco cartels, “have increasingly availed themselves of the fentanyl, fentanyl precursors and masked fentanyl precursors developed and distributed” by Chinese chemical manufacturers, according to the indictments.

Fentanyl is now the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 49 and has become a high priority for federal law enforcement, according to DEA Administrator Anne Milgram.

In 2022, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration “seized over 57 million fentanyl-laced counterfeit prescription pills and over 13,000 pounds of fentanyl powder-the equivalent of about 410 million potentially deadly doses of fentanyl,” prosecutors say.

Chemical manufacturing companies may lawfully import regulated chemicals, but only if they do so in coordination with a US company that is registered with the DEA to import them.

AmarvelBio, Hefei GSK, and Anhui Moker didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The cases are United States v. Hubei Amarvel Biotech Co. Ltd., S.D.N.Y., No. 1:23-cr-00302, unsealed indictment 6/23/23, United States v. Anhui Moker New Material Tech. Co., E.D.N.Y., No. 1:23-cr-00263, unsealed indictment 6/23/23, United States v. Hefei GSK Trade Co., Ltd., E.D.N.Y., No. 1:23-cr-00264, unsealed indictment 6/23/23.