NEW YORK (Diya TV) — A global supply chain of synthetic opioid fentanyl is increasingly redirecting through India and Canada as U.S. and allied authorities ramp up pressure on China, long viewed as the primary source of the drug’s deadly ingredients.

According to FBI Director Kash Patel, Chinese chemical companies are shifting their fentanyl precursor exports to India and Canada to evade heightened U.S. scrutiny. “They’re taking the precursors up to Canada, manufacturing it up there, and doing their global distribution routes from up there,” Patel said in a June 6 interview with Joe Rogan. He emphasized that the strategy is part of a broader geopolitical agenda by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to destabilize the United States over the long term.

“They are not doing this for massive profit,” said Patel. “In my opinion, the CCP has used it as a directed approach to kneecap the United States of America. It’s a long-term plan to take out generations of young men and women.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that synthetic opioids, mainly fentanyl, were involved in over 48,000 deaths in 2024 alone. As the DEA and FBI step up enforcement, supply routes through Mexico are being disrupted, prompting a shift to new production hotspots like India and Canada.

In May, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s annual threat assessment warned of a growing presence of “sophisticated fentanyl super laboratories” in Canada. While still smaller in scale than Mexican operations, these labs are seen as poised to expand.

In response to shifting smuggling tactics, the FBI is collaborating closely with Indian authorities. “My FBI is over there working with the heads of their government,” Patel said. “We’re going to find these companies that buy it, and we’re going to shut them down. We’re going to sanction them. We’re going to indict them in America if we can. We’re going to indict them in India.”

That strategy is already producing results. In January, two Indian firms—Raxuter Chemicals and Athos Chemicals—were charged with criminal conspiracy to traffic fentanyl precursors. According to U.S. prosecutors, the companies misled customs agencies by mislabeling shipments and falsifying declarations. Bhavesh Lathiya, a founder of Raxuter, was arrested in New York and is now facing federal charges.

The Department of Justice also reported the largest fentanyl seizure in DEA history in May, confiscating over 400 kilograms of the drug and arresting 16 individuals across five U.S. states.

Patel says Chinese authorities have misled the global community by claiming to ban specific precursor chemicals while continuing to export alternatives. “There are 14 other precursors you can use to make fentanyl,” he said. “They’re still shipping all of those.”

Further complicating the crisis are counterfeit pills made to resemble candy or pharmaceuticals but laced with lethal doses of fentanyl. In May, federal charges were brought against three Chinese nationals and a China-based company for allegedly supplying pill presses and machinery to U.S.-based drug operations.

President Donald Trump, who reimposed tariffs on Chinese imports in March over China’s role in the fentanyl trade, has praised ongoing enforcement actions. Patel, a former top counterterrorism official and Trump loyalist, said the administration is determined to end the crisis. “I promised the president, the American people, we will not have kids dying of fentanyl overdoses in our streets,” he told Rogan. “Just give me a little bit more time. We have a massive operation going on around the world.”

As law enforcement closes in on new routes and networks, the international fight against fentanyl is entering a more complex and global phase, with India, Canada, and China at its center.