US sanctions two Indians over fentanyl-laced fake pills

The US Department of the Treasury has imposed sanctions on two Indian nationals and an India-based online pharmacy for supplying counterfeit prescription pills laced with fentanyl and other illicit drugs to victims across the United States.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) named Sadiq Abbas Habib Sayyed and Khizar Mohammad Iqbal Shaikh along with Shaikh’s company KS International Traders, also known as KS Pharmacy, for their role in trafficking hundreds of thousands of fake pills marketed as legitimate pharmaceuticals.

“Too many families have been torn apart by fentanyl. Today, we are acting to hold accountable those who profit from this poison,” said John K Hurley, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, adding that the move was part of President Donald Trump’s pledge to “Make America Fentanyl Free”.

According to US authorities, Sayyed and Shaikh worked with traffickers in the US and the Dominican Republic to distribute the drugs. They used encrypted platforms to market their products, which often resembled brand-name medicines like Oxycodone or Xanax but were filled with fentanyl, its analogues, or methamphetamine. Both men had already been indicted in September 2024 by a federal grand jury in New York on narcotics charges.

The US says such online pharmacies, many operating from India, have become a major source of fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills, with some shipments also supplying precursor chemicals to Mexican cartels.

OFAC said the action was taken under Executive Order 14059, which targets international drug trafficking networks. The sanctions freeze all assets of the designated individuals and entity within US jurisdiction and prohibit American citizens and companies from doing business with them. Violations can attract civil or criminal penalties.