DOJ charges Chinese nationals in synthetic opioid conspiracy

The Justice Department has indicted two Chinese nationals for allegedly manufacturing and selling deadly drugs around the world that resulted in the deaths of two Americans.

According to the indictment, Fujing Zheng, 35, and his father, Guanghua, 62, operated a global opioid and drug manufacturing conspiracy that involved shipping drugs to 25 countries and 37 states.

Drugs sold by the men allegedly led to the fatal overdoses of two men in Akron, Ohio, the Justice Department said.

The men, who live in Shanghai, China, have been charged with a litany of crimes, including conspiracy to import controlled substances into the U.S.

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The charges carry a potential life sentence because the drugs resulted in death, according to the DOJ.

According to the indictment, the men used numerous companies to manufacture and distribute hundreds of controlled substances, including deadly fentanyl analogies.

From 2008 to the present, the Zhengs’ organization claimed to have shopped over 16 tons of chemicals a month from its own laboratory.

According to the indictment, the organization “touted its ability to create custom-ordered drugs and avoid detection from customs and law enforcement when shipping the drugs.”

The Zhengs allegedly sent millions of doses of fentanyl and other drugs linked to overdoses to the U.S.

The acetyl fentanyl that the Zhengs distributed resulted in the overdose deaths in Ohio of Thomas Rauh, 37, and Carrie Dobbins, 23, in 2015, the DOJ alleges.