New York: The eight Indian-Americans accused, who were arrested on Thursday, primarily operated out of a warehouse in Queens, a New York City borough, where they repackaged the pills and mailed them to customers throughout the US, according to the Justice Department.
Since January 2018, law enforcement authorities in the US had been investigating the large-scale importation of misbranded controlled substances, including tramadol, a synthetic opioid, into the US from India.
The eight accused who have been charged by federal court in Brooklyn are Ezhil Sezhian Kamaldoss, 46, Mukul Chugh, 24, Gulab Gulab, 45, Deepak Manchanda, 43, Parthiban Narayanasamy, 58, Baljeet Singh, 29, Harpreet Singh, 28 and 45-year-old Vikas M Verma.
If convicted, Kamaldoss the main accused faces up to 25 years’ imprisonment while the other accused face up to five years’ imprisonment.
