Gujarat ATS books 2 for smuggling chemicals used to synthesise Fentanyl drug as ‘Vitamin C’

DIG Joshi added, “They were engaged in this activity for at least the past one year, but we will further learn about the scale of their activities once we examine account books. But they have sent these chemicals out of India at least three-four times. The profit margin on these trades is about 7 to 8 times higher than what they must have paid for the chemical in India.”

Both the accused were booked under Sections 28 (attempt to commit offence), 29 (party to criminal conspiracy), and 30 (offences involving commercial quantities of narcotics) of the NDPS Act, as well as under Sections 336(2) (forgery), 340(2) (documents created through forgery) and 350(1) (making false marks on good containers) of the BNS.

The precursor chemicals being smuggled out of India through these firms in Surat were 1-Boc-4-piperidone (N-Boc-4-piperidone) and 4-piperidone — both of which are used to formulate Fentanyl.

Fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid drug used for pain relief, is restricted or banned in several countries due to its potential for abuse. It has been at the centre of the storm around the opioid epidemic in the USA. According to a statement from the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) on December 16, 2024, “More than 107,000 people lost their lives to a drug overdose in 2023, with nearly 70 per cent of those deaths attributed to opioids such as Fentanyl.”

Further, Agrat Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals has been accused of selling 4-Anilino-N-phenethylpiperidine (ANPP) and N-Phynethyl-4-piperidinone (NPP), both of which are also precursors of Fentanyl, to J&C Imports, a company in Guatemala, which, according to DIG Sunil Joshi, is suspected to be associated with the dreaded Sinaloa drug cartel.

Notably, these precursors (chemicals combined to formulate/synthesise Fentanyl), are considered psychotropic substances and are thus severely restricted and on watch lists in several countries as well as under international conventions. They are not only on the Red List of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) of the United Nations, but are also on the International Special Surveillance List (ISSL) of the Central Bureau of Narcotics (CBN), which is under the Ministry of Finance in India.

The Sinaloa Drug Cartel (Cartel de Sinaloa), named after a region in Mexico, is a transnational drug trafficking and money laundering criminal syndicate. On February 20, 2025, the CDS was one of eight such organisations to be declared Foreign Terrorist Organisations (FTOs) by the State Department of the US.

According to the statement from the spokesperson of the US State Department, “Cártel de Sinaloa is a transnational organization based in Sinaloa, Mexico. It is one of the world’s most powerful drug cartels and is one of the largest producers and traffickers of fentanyl and other illicit drugs to the United States. Cártel de Sinaloa has used violence to murder, kidnap, and intimidate civilians, government officials, and journalists.”

“Upon investigation into the roles of Satish and Yukta, the ATS learnt that the accused persons used to procure these Fentanyl precursors by showing manufacturers forged end-user certificates and bogus invoices, and then put fake labels on the parcels containing these chemicals and made bogus in voices for them and had been smuggling them out of India as vitamin C,” said DIG Joshi at a press conference on Tuesday.

While the ATS did not seize any of the banned substances, Joshi said, shipping cargo containers containing these chemicals that had not yet been cleared at certain ports were in the process of being seized by the Customs department. Joshi said that the two accused had also allegedly attempted to destroy evidence but the ATS had recovered several documents from the premises.

Further, the ATS found that the accused had allegedly made all preparations to illegally export ANPP and NPP through air cargo as well. Further investigation in the case is underway.