The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced on Thursday that it had seized a record one million counterfeit fentanyl pills in Inglewood, California.
On July 5, DEA agents issued a federal search warrant that resulted in the seizure of one million fentanyl pills. Fentanyl pills are associated with the Mexican Sinaloa cartel. Agents complied with the search warrant after investigating the drug syndicate since May.
The latest arrest was the largest amount of fentanyl pills ever seized by DEA agents in California. The fake fentanyl pills were reported to be worth between $15 million and $20 million.
NEW: The Los Angeles DEA has announced that it has seized 1 million counterfeit fentanyl pills in Inglewood. The pills are believed to be linked to human traffickers linked to the Sinaloa cartel and should be distributed. @Fox News pic.twitter.com/YpBFtq3JGO
– Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) 14 July 2022
Pills containing fentanyl will enter the country through the southern border and remain in southern California until “home managers” distribute the pills to drug dealers in other areas.
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, Mexican cartels “mass-produce illegal fentanyl and fentanyl-containing counterfeit pills in dirty, secret, unregulated laboratories.” As a result, more than 107,000 Americans died from drug overdoses last year, according to the CDC.
Last year, DEA offices throughout much of Los Angeles seized more than three million fentanyl tablets. From January to April this year, they seized around 1.5 million fentanyl tablets, a 64% increase over the same period in 2021.
DEA Special Agent Bill Bodner said:
This massive takeover has delayed the flow of dangerous quantities of fentanyl into our streets and has likely saved many lives. Fraud marketing combined with the ease of possession makes these small and seemingly harmless pills a serious threat to the health and safety of our entire community.
Bodner also said that “an astonishing number of teenagers and young adults were unaware that they were taking fentanyl in these fake pills and were poisoned.”
For example, Jordan Erickson, 22, of Palmdale, California, dead After a member of Lock It Out Barbell’s gym gave him a pill of fentanyl, he claimed it was a pain reliever and helped heal an injury. Authorities have yet to arrest anyone in connection with the fentanyl pills Erickson took.
FULL STORY: Jordan Erickson, 22, injured himself while lifting a barbell at Lock It Out in Palmdale on Dec. He bought what he thought was oxycodone as a pain reliever from someone at the gym. He was found dead the next day, drank fentanyl. His family… (1/2) pic.twitter.com/kaM3DkcXez
– Jorge Ventura Media (@VenturaReport) March 11, 2021
In nearby Riverside County, Los Angeles County, District Attorney Michael Hestrin said fentanyl-related deaths have increased more than 800 percent in the past five years.
The increase in the amount of fentanyl entering the country is mainly due to the soft immigration policies of President Joe Biden. Four times more fentanyl passes through the southern border under Biden than under former President Donald Trump.
According to Breitbart News:
About 2,800 kilos of fentanyl were seized at the border in fiscal 2019. The following year, that number exceeded 4,800 pounds of seized fentanyl. By fiscal 2021, which represents most of Biden’s first year in office, seizures of fentanyl had soared to nearly £11,200.
In addition to fake fentanyl pills, smugglers add fentanyl to everyday items like Skittles and vape pens.
Representatives Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Ken Calvert (R-CA) recently held a caucus in Congress on the fentanyl crisis. “We must stand up in the army against those who are killing Americans,” Calvert said.
Source: Breitbart
