Six Chinese citizens and two China-based pharmaceutical companies have been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly selling and delivering chemical precursors used to make fentanyl intended to be smuggled into the U.S., FBI Director Kash Patel says.

Patel posted on X  that indictments were handed down Tuesday.

The defendants were also indicted for allegedly forging an alliance with a Mexican drug cartel, according to the Justice Department, Fox News reported.

A grand jury in Dayton, Ohio, returned charges against the Shandong Believe Chemical Company and Shandong Ranhang Biotechnology, in addition to Chinese citizens Hanson Zhao, Gao Yanpeng, Xia Yi, Zhang Jian, Wang Zhoalan, and Zhang Chunhai.

The indictments are part of Operation Box Cutter, the FBI-led multi-agency crackdown targeting the global supply chain of fentanyl precursors. Officials also said that the FBI received assistance from China's Ministry of Public Security, which provided intelligence.

"Operation Boxcutter represents a historic success with unprecedented indictments including material support for terrorism – a major step in this FBI’s coast-to-coast takedown of the fentanyl crisis," Patel told Fox News.

Shandong Believe Chemical Company and Shandong Ranhang Biotechnology allegedly used Zhao, Yanpeng, Yi, Jian, Zhoalan, and Chunhai to solicit, negotiate, and secure payments for illegal cutting agents from U.S. customers. 

The companies allegedly used the six defendants from last July through January to openly market, sell, and deliver various chemical precursors intended for domestic and foreign drug traffickers to make fentanyl destined for the U.S.

The U.S. customers were directed to pay for the cutting agents using cryptocurrency transferred to crypto wallets, with the funds ultimately being deposited into foreign financial institutions, according to the DOJ.

The defendants allegedly conspired to manufacture and distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl mixture, and three defendants allegedly also sold chemical precursors and medetomidine to a member of the Cártel del Golfo, known as the Gulf Cartel, which the State Department has designated as a foreign terrorist organization. 

China’s Ministry of Public Security provided the FBI with intelligence in the operation that helped "advance our understanding" and investigation of Shandong Believe Chemical Company and its criminal network, said FBI operations director Joe Perez.

Drug traffickers use chemical precursors, such as medetomidine, to manufacture fentanyl and other substances known as "cut" to increase the quantity of doses available for sale, the DOJ said. 

Medetomidine is an animal tranquilizer up to 200 times more powerful than morphine, according to authorities. The chemical precursor can increase the yield of a single kilogram of fentanyl at least twenty-fold, producing millions of doses for street-level sales, officials said.

The Justice Department announced in September 2025 that a federal grand jury in Dayton returned charges against dozens of defendants, including Chinese nationals and companies, in narcotics and money laundering conspiracies involving illegal cutting agents used in fentanyl.