Two Indians and their companies are among 23 persons and entities sanctioned by the United States for allegedly being part of a global supply chain linked to a Mexico-based drug cartel.

Satishkumar Hareshbhai Sutaria and Yuktakumari Ashishkumar Modi are among the individuals mentioned in a list of sanctioned entities published by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on April 23.

The sanctions mean that all US properties of the persons and entities listed are to be blocked and reported to the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The US treasury department alleged that Sutaria and Modi, through the companies SR Chemicals and Agrat Chemicals, facilitated the sale and shipment of precursor chemicals to Mexico and Guatemala by falsely labelling them as safe chemicals. These precursor chemicals were used to produce illicit fentanyl, the department alleged.

Both were arrested by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad in connection with the allegations in March 2025. They got bail from the Gujarat High Court in February, The Indian Express reported.

Sutaria and Modi have been booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. A chargesheet against them was filed on May 15, and they are now awaiting trial.

On Tuesday, the United States Embassy in India said that Indian law enforcement authorities were “instrumental in disrupting key elements of this criminal network”.

The Gujarat ATS alleges that Sutaria and Modi and been smuggling precursor chemicals from Maharashtra to Guatemala-based J&C Imports, which is suspected to be a front for Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, according to The Indian Express.

However, the case registered in Gujarat does not mention SR Chemicals or Agrat Chemicals.

A Guatemala -based broker of fentanyl precursors, Jaime Augusto Barrientos Camaz, was also among those sanctioned by the United States on April 23. Barrientos allegedly sourced the precursor chemicals from Agrat Chemicals and SR Chemicals, according to the US treasury department.

Barrientos and J&C are also among the individuals and entities sanctioned by the United States.

These actions are part of a crackdown by the United States against gangs allegedly pushing illicit drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, into the US. The Sinaloa cartel, said to be among the world’s most powerful drug cartels, was among eight such groups declared as foreign terrorist organisations by the US State Department on February 20, 2025.