U.S. Imposes Visa Bans on 13 People Linked to Indian Firm Accused of Fentanyl Trafficking
NEW YORK — The United States has imposed visa bans on 13 people associated with an Indian business previously sanctioned for alleged fentanyl trafficking, citing a shared commitment with India to combat illicit drug networks.
State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said the individuals are “close business associates of KS International Traders and its owner.” He said the company “generated revenue through the trafficking of illicit fentanyl, which President Trump designated as a Weapon of Mass Destruction.”
“This action underscores the United States’ and India’s enduring and shared commitment to dismantling illicit drug entities and disrupting trafficking networks that harm Americans,” Pigott said.
The State Department did not identify the 13 people covered by the visa restrictions.
Pigott said the bans were imposed under a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act that bars drug traffickers from entering the United States.
In September, the U.S. Treasury Department placed sanctions on KS International Traders, its owner Khizar Mohammad Iqbal Shaikh, and Sadiq Abbas Habib Sayyed. Shaikh and Sayyed are Indian nationals.
The sanctions blocked their assets and prohibited them from conducting financial transactions in the United States.
The Treasury Department said at the time that the targets had “collectively supplying hundreds of thousands of counterfeit prescription pills filled with fentanyl and other illicit drugs to victims across the United States.”
“Too many families have been torn apart by fentanyl,” said John Hurley, under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. “Today, we are acting to hold accountable those who profit from this poison.”
According to the Treasury Department, Sayyed and Shaikh worked with narcotics traffickers in the Dominican Republic and the United States to market and sell pills containing fentanyl, a fentanyl analogue and methamphetamine.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 70,231 people died from drug overdoses in the 12 months ending in November in the United States. (Source: IANS)
