NEW YORK, NY – Malek Balouchzehi, also known as “Malek Khan,” was sentenced to 20 years in prison for conspiring to import and distribute heroin in the United States. U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman imposed the sentence after Balouchzehi was convicted in a one-week jury trial in May.
According to court documents and evidence from the trial, Balouchzehi is based in Iran and has been involved in large-scale drug trafficking for at least a decade. In September 2019, he began communication with individuals he believed to be heroin traffickers based in the U.S.
Those individuals were a confidential source and an undercover DEA agents. In December 2019, Balouchzehi sent a sample shipment of approximately two kilograms of heroin to Mozambique, intending it for further transport to the United States.
Meetings in Nairobi, Kenya, in October 2021 revealed Balouchzehi’s plans to ship ton quantities of heroin to New York using maritime routes. He intended to disguise these operations by using a fishing company. During these meetings, Balouchzehi also discussed his past involvement in international drug trafficking, providing evidence of his activities.
In addition to his prison term, Balouchzehi, 40, has been sentenced to five years of supervised release.