The Justice Department filed its first-ever criminal charges against Chinese chemical manufacturing companies alleged to have illegally trafficked substances into the United States for fentanyl production.

The U.S. intends to prosecute four China-based manufacturers and eight individuals for knowingly producing, marketing, selling, and supplying the chemicals used to concoct fentanyl, Reuters reported. The synthetic drug is partly responsible for the opioid epidemic in America.

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“During these investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration seized more than 200 kilograms of fentanyl-related precursor chemicals, a quantity that could contain enough deadly doses to kill 25 million Americans,” a press release from the DOJ read.

Two people were arrested and three indictments were unsealed in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the Justice Department announced Friday. The arrests and charges come after Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited China earlier this week to request President Xi Jinping’s help in targeting the international trafficking of fentanyl.

The U.S. brought the charges against Chinese companies and nationals allegedly connected to the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel. The charges come two months after the Justice Department indicted the same cartel’s leaders.

“When I announced in April that the Justice Department had taken significant enforcement actions against the Sinaloa Cartel, I promised that the Justice Department would never forget the victims of the fentanyl epidemic,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said.

“I also promised that we would never stop working to hold accountable those who bear responsibility for it. That includes not only going after the leaders of the cartels, their drug and gun traffickers, their money launderers, security forces, and clandestine lab operators. It also includes stopping the Chinese chemical companies that are supplying the cartels with the building blocks they need to manufacture deadly fentanyl.”

The Southern District of New York’s federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment against the China-based chemical company Hubei Amarvel Biotech and some of its top executives. Qingzhou Wang and Yiyi Chen were the two individuals arrested, while Fnu Lnu, also known as Er Yang, remains on the run.

In New York’s Eastern District, three other Chinese companies and five nationals were charged with conspiring to illegally produce and distribute fentanyl.

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"Today’s announcement is a down payment on our pledge to use every tool in the government’s arsenal, in every corner of the globe, to protect American communities,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. "The Justice Department will not rest or relent in investigating and prosecuting every link of the fentanyl supply chain, including the PRC companies and executives who produce and export vast quantities of the precursor chemicals the drug cartels need to peddle their poison."

Monaco promised there would "be no safe haven" for those involved in the federal crime.