- Bhavesh Lathiya was sentenced to 54 months in prison.
- He pleaded guilty to smuggling and distributing fentanyl precursors.
- He was ordered to forfeit $24,560.
- He will be deported after completing his sentence.
- Prosecutors described the case as a new step against India-based suppliers.
A Gujarat businessman who used his chemical company to supply ingredients used in fentanyl production has been sentenced to four and a half years in a U.S. federal prison, after admitting his role in an international precursor-smuggling scheme.
Bhavesh Lathiya, 37, the founder and head of Surat-based Raxuter Chemicals, was sentenced to 54 months in prison by US District Judge Pamela K. Chen.
The sentence followed his guilty plea in April to charges involving the smuggling and distribution of chemicals that prosecutors said he knew could be used to manufacture fentanyl.
Lathiya was also ordered to forfeit $24,560. Once he completes his prison sentence, he is expected to be deported from the United States.
The case is significant not only because of the punishment handed to Lathiya, but because U.S. prosecutors have presented it as a new chapter in their effort to disrupt fentanyl supply chains before the deadly drug reaches American streets.
“During a national crisis when hundreds of Americans were dying every day of fentanyl overdoses…”
Prosecutors said Lathiya's company supplied more than 50 pounds of chemicals commonly used in fentanyl manufacture to customers in the United States and Mexico.
Court documents described a pattern of deceptive shipping practices. Packages were allegedly given misleading descriptions and customs declarations to avoid attracting attention.
One shipment sent to New York on June 29, 2024, was declared as “Vitamin C”.
Investigators said the package actually contained 1-Boc-4-piperidone, a chemical precursor used in fentanyl manufacture.
The case became more serious when investigators began communicating with Lathiya through an undercover operation.
During video calls in October 2024, an undercover officer discussed the quality of chemicals previously supplied to clients in Mexico. After the officer said his “clients in Mexico were very happy with the quality of what you sent me” and with “the yield they got of the final product”, prosecutors said Lathiya agreed to sell another 20 kilograms of 1-Boc-4-piperidone.
The proposed shipment would allegedly be labelled as an antacid.
Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. used the sentencing to underline the seriousness with which U.S. authorities view precursor trafficking.
“During a national crisis when hundreds of Americans were dying every day of fentanyl overdoses, Lathiya smuggled and distributed chemical ingredients, including those that were the building blocks for this deadly drug, without any regard for the harm that his conduct would cause,”
Nocella said the case demonstrated that prosecutors would “hold precursor traffickers like the defendant accountable for their role in the fentanyl supply chain”.
“a prosecution that breaks new ground against an India based supplier”
Lathiya's sentence is also notable because of how U.S. investigators have characterised the case.
Homeland Security Investigations Acting Special Agent in Charge Pete Gizas said Lathiya's conduct placed him “at the source of the fentanyl supply chain, where he knowingly moved the chemical building blocks of a lethal drug into the United States through deception, false labeling, and international shipments in a prosecution that breaks new ground against an India based supplier”.
Gizas said investigators were determined “to attack the fentanyl supply chain before the poison is manufactured, packaged, and sold to the public.”
That makes Lathiya's 54-month sentence more than an individual punishment in the eyes of U.S. authorities. It is also intended as a warning to other chemical suppliers operating internationally.
From Surat to a US prison
The case began with Lathiya's business in Surat but ultimately brought him before a federal court in New York.
He was arrested in January 2025 and later pleaded guilty in Brooklyn federal court in April 2026.
The final sentence, 54 months, is considerably below the maximum penalties prosecutors had outlined earlier in the case. But the consequences extend beyond his prison term.
His financial penalty and eventual deportation mean that Lathiya will leave the United States without the proceeds prosecutors sought to recover and without the ability to remain in the country after serving his sentence.
The case also comes against a wider U.S. effort to target fentanyl precursor suppliers in countries beyond China.
Prosecutors have separately brought cases against India-based chemical companies, including Vasudha Pharma Chem Limited, signalling that Washington is increasingly looking at the international chemical supply chain rather than focusing solely on finished fentanyl.
For Lathiya, however, the broader policy shift has translated into a very personal outcome: 54 months behind bars, $24,560 in forfeiture and deportation when his sentence ends.
The “Vitamin C” label may have looked ordinary.
The sentence handed down in a US courtroom was anything but.
