Two Chinese pharmaceutical companies and six Chinese citizens have been indicted for allegedly supplying chemical precursors used to make fentanyl to be smuggled into the United States. According to FBI Director Kash Patel, the indictments handed down by a federal grand jury in Ohio were connected to Operation Box Cutter and revealed an alliance between the Chinese companies and Mexico’s Gulf Cartel.
According to court records, the Dayton, Ohio-based grand jury returned the indictments on Tuesday against the Shandong Believe Chemical Company and Shandong Ranhang Biotechnology chemical-pharmaceutical companies. The indictments allege that the companies “knowingly marketed, sold, and exported to the United States and elsewhere precursor chemicals, compounds, and substances” intended for fentanyl production and distribution to drug traffickers. Mexico’s notorious Gulf Cartel was listed specifically in the indictment among the drug traffickers receiving the precursor materials.
The indictment alleges the two pharmaceutical companies openly marketed and sold Medetomidine, an animal tranquilizer, to drug traffickers that included the Gulf Cartel. According to the indictment, Medetomidine was intended to be used as a cutting agent to increase the yield of fentanyl without sacrificing the potency of the drug.
Six individuals listed as Chinese nationals in the indictments were named in the conspiracy as Hanson Zhao, Gao Yanpeng, Xia Yi, Zhang Jian, Wang Zholaan, and Zhang Chunhai. In a social media post on X on Tuesday, FBI Director Patel called the indictments historic and attributed the progress in the ongoing investigation dubbed “Operation Box Cutter” to unprecedented cooperation with China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS).
The MPS provided intelligence to the FBI-led multi-agency investigation that followed a historic visit to China by the FBI, according to Patel. Commenting on the indictments, the FBI Director said, “President Trump promised and delivered sweeping policies to crush the plague of fentanyl in America. The FBI and our partners are executing it across the country 24/7.”
In September, the Department of Justice announced previous indictments related to Operation Box Cutter that included three United States citizens, 22 Chinese nationals, and four other Chinese pharmaceutical companies suspected of carrying out an international drug trafficking operation.
Dominick S. Gerace II, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio commented on the earlier indictments connected to Operation Box Cutter saying, “Our indictment alleges that Chinese companies and affiliated foreign nationals intentionally and openly marketed, delivered, and exported to the United States controlled substances and other compounds that they knew would be used by domestic drug dealers to increase the yield and potency of fentanyl distributed in this country.” Gerace added, “As explained in court documents, these deadly drug mixtures were then sold directly into our communities here in southern Ohio.”
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Before his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him o
