Under the Donald Trump administration, the US State Department reinforced an intense crackdown on illicit fentanyl, targeting foreign-based firms and executives involved in unsuspecting crimes. As part of its ongoing efforts to dismantle illegal drug entities and disrupt trafficking networks complicit in “poisoning Americans,” the US government has blocked 13 individuals from entering the country.
They all share ties with a previously sanctioned India-based business and its owner, according to US authorities.
13 people linked to India-based pharmacy hit with visa restrictions
Announcing its latest series of visa restrictions on Tuesday (US time), the US State Department targeted 13 people associated with the India-based firm KS International Traders and its owner.
This major development comes about a year after the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two Indian nationals, Sadiq Abbas Habib Sayyed (Sayyed) and Khizar Mohammed Iqbal Shaikh (Shaikh), for working with US-based narcotics traffickers to sell counterfeit pills to Americans.
Notably, Shaikh owns KS International Traders, also known as “KS Pharmacy,” a purported online pharmacy that the US government said furthered Shaikh’s criminal activities. The Indian man was initially exposed for his conduct in a US Department of Justice (DOJ) 2024 indictment on narcotics-related charges. Nonetheless, he continued to operate the business after that.
India-based firm’s owner was sanctioned over illicit fentanyl supply to US
According to the Office of Foreign Assets Control, both Sayyed and KS International Traders’ owner used encrypted messaging platforms to market and sell hundreds of thousands of counterfeit prescription pills filled with fentanyl and other illicit drugs to people across the US. The pills were presented at discounted rates as legitimate pharmaceutical products to deceive American consumers.
In its latest action against the India-based pharmacy, the US State Department reiterated that KS International Traders generated revenue through the trafficking of illegal fentanyl. Merely months after returning to office for the second time, US President Donald Trump designated fentanyl as a “Weapon of Mass Destruction” under Executive Order (E.O.) 14367 on December 15, 2025 (US time). The action was taken under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Highlighting that pills laced with illicit fentanyl had devastated families and communities across the world, the US State Department also emphasised the “United States’ and India’s enduring and shared commitment to dismantling illicit drug entities and disrupting trafficking networks that harm Americans.”
With the new firm action against illicit fentanyl traffickers, the Trump administration asserted that anyone complicit in such crimes, targeting unsuspecting victims, will be denied entry to the US.
Disclaimer: All information mentioned here has been sourced from official US government websites.