FBI Indicts 22 Chinese Nationals In Massive Drug Bust, Enough Fentanyl To Kill 70 Million Americans

The Trump administration has been cracking down on the illegal drug trade.

On Tuesday, at the direction of President Trump, the U.S. military launched a strike on a Venezuelan drug boat.

Take a look:

🚨 BREAKING: President Trump just released the video of the U.S. military STRIKING a drug boat from Venezuela heading to America carrying ELEVEN Tren de Aragua narcoterrorists, who were kiIIed in the strike

TRUMP: “Earlier this morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces… pic.twitter.com/axQAWxjJhm

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) September 2, 2025

Now, on Wednesday, the DOJ has announced it has indicted 22 Chinese nationals, along with three American citizens, in an operation called Box Cutter.

Operation Box Cutter was an operation by the FBI that resulted in the seizure of a massive amount of fentanyl that had the potential to kill 70 million Americans.

Fox News reported more details on the massive drug bust:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is “targeting the fentanyl supply chain at its source,” and a recent operation led to the indictments of 22 Chinese nationals, four China-based chemical companies and three Americans.

“We’re done playing Whack-a-Mole,” FBI Director Kash Patel said during a press conference on Wednesday in Cincinnati, Ohio, adding that no other country besides the U.S. has a “fentanyl crisis.”

Dubbed Operation Box Cutter, it has resulted in the seizure of “enough fentanyl powder to kill 70 million Americans and enough fentanyl pills to kill another 270,000,” Patel said in a statement.

The investigation started in Dayton, Ohio before expanding “all the way to mainland China, where chemical companies were openly marketing and selling dangerous precursor substances used to cut and manufacture fentanyl, cocaine and heroin,” according to a news release.

“Today’s takedown marks the FBI’s first-of-its-kind international operation targeting the fentanyl plague that has killed tens of thousands of Americans, indicting the companies and individuals in mainland China that manufacture the precursors fueling the destruction of our communities,” Patel’s statement said.

“We have indicted Chinese precursor companies and exposed their bank accounts and cryptocurrency pipelines and funding sources that facilitate this deadly trade,” his statement concluded.

Today’s takedown is the FBI’s first-of-its-kind international operation against the fentanyl plague.

We indicted 22 Chinese nationals, 4 chemical companies & 3 Americans.
Seized enough fentanyl to kill 70M Americans + 270K more in pills.

The supply chain ends here. pic.twitter.com/HaawTkeZUy

— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) September 3, 2025

Read the DOJ’s official press release below:

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

“Protecting Americans from fentanyl is one of this Department’s most important missions — and it starts with dismantling the international pipelines that bring deadly drugs and precursor to our shores,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “We will not rest until we stop Chinese companies from shipping poison to our citizens and bring everyone involved in this lethal trade to swift, complete justice.”

“Our indictment alleges that Chinese companies and affiliated foreign nationals intentionally and openly marketed, delivered, and exported to the United States controlled substances and other compounds that they knew would be used by domestic drug dealers to increase the yield and potency of fentanyl distributed in this country,” said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio Dominick S. Gerace II. “As explained in court documents, these deadly drug mixtures were then sold directly into our communities here in southern Ohio.”

“Today’s announcement marks a first-of-its-kind international operation for the FBI targeting the fentanyl plague that has killed tens of thousands of Americans and indicting the companies and individuals in mainland China that manufacture the precursor chemicals fueling the destruction of our communities,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “This operation has already seized enough fentanyl powder to kill 70 million Americans and enough fentanyl pills to kill another 270,000. And we have now indicted the Chinese precursor companies and exposed the funding streams that facilitate this deadly trade.”

According to charging documents, from at least 2022 until present, Eric Michael Payne, 39, of Tipp City, Ohio, served as a main supplier of illegal cutting agents to fentanyl traffickers operating in southern Ohio. Payne allegedly purchased several kilogram shipments of the cutting agents from multiple Chinese companies purporting to be online pharmacies and legitimate chemical companies.

It is believed that the U.S. defendants purchased from the Chinese companies at least 10 kilograms of fentanyl cutting agents, which, in turn, could yield more than 150 kilograms of fentanyl mixture bound for street-level sales in southern Ohio. The cutting agents included animal tranquilizers up to 200 times more powerful than morphine.