The United States has imposed sweeping sanctions on a transnational drug supply network with links to India, targeting entities and individuals accused of supplying precursor chemicals used by the notorious Sinaloa Cartel to manufacture synthetic opioids.Announcing action against 23 individuals and entities, the US Department of the Treasury said the network spans India, Latin America and Mexico, and operates across the entire illicit opioid supply chain—from chemical sourcing to trafficking. The sanctions were issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) under multiple executive orders aimed at curbing the proliferation of narcotics and dismantling terror-linked financial networks.The US Embassy in India acknowledged cooperation from Indian authorities, stating that “partnership with Indian law enforcement was instrumental in disrupting key elements” of the network distributing precursor chemicals to cartels.Among those designated are India-based supplier Satishkumar Hareshbhai Sutaria and associate Yuktakumari Ashishkumar Modi, along with their firms SR Chemicals and Agrat Chemicals. According to US authorities, they allegedly facilitated shipments of fentanyl precursors such as N-Boc-4-Piperidone to Mexico and Guatemala, often mislabelled as “safe chemicals”.Both were arrested by Indian agencies in March 2025.US officials said that Mexican cartels increasingly rely on global chemical supply chains, particularly from Asia, to produce synthetic drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamine. A kilogram of certain precursors can yield hundreds of thousands of lethal doses, underscoring the scale of the threat.The sanctions freeze US-linked assets of designated entities and prohibit financial transactions with them, with potential secondary sanctions for foreign institutions facilitating such dealings.