One of the leading chemicals causing death in recreational drugs, fentanyl, has been found in a NYC bust. There were enough fentanyl in that one bust to kill 32 million people. Fentanyl is 50 times more powerful than heroin and is responsible for the ever increasing rates of death by drug overdose. In just two busts 195 pounds of fentanyl were seized along with 75 pounds of cocaine and heroin.
Bridget G. Brennan, New York City’s special narcotics prosecutor, said:
“The sheer volume of fentanyl pouring into the city is shocking,” she said. “It’s not only killing a record number of people in New York City, but the city is used as a hub of regional distribution for a lethal substance that is taking thousands of lives throughout the Northeast.”
In the first bust, on Aug. 1, 2017, police and federal agents seized more than 140 pounds of fentanyl — the most in the city’s history — after watching Rogelio Alvardo-Robles and Blanca Flores-Solis receive what appeared to to be a package of cocaine from an unknown trafficker at a Walmart in Manhawkin, New Jersey. Authorities said that after the exchange, they went back to an apartment building in Queens’ Kew Gardens neighborhood, where a DEA agent approached them and seized the alleged drugs.
Afterward, authorities said they got a search warrant for their apartment and found 97 packages of drugs in suitcases and a purse in a bedroom; 84 of the packages were either filled with pure fentanyl or heroin laced with the powerful drug. Authorities said the trove could have had enough doses to kill 32 million people from overdoses.
Then, on Sept. 5, authorities seized another 53 pounds of fentanyl-laced heroin and another 2 pounds of uncut fentanyl during a stop near Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. That bust came after detectives and DEA agents watched Edwin Guzman and Manuel Rivera-Santana pick up a duffel bag from men inside a tractor trailer and drove back into New York City.
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