Three men are in custody after Florida authorities seized enough fentanyl to kill 5 million people.
That's the word from the Polk County Sheriff's Office, which said the seizure marks the largest in the history of the United States.
Juan Manuel Gutierrez Medina, 55, Ruperto Rocha, 65, and Juan Gutierrez Contreras, 25, are facing a laundry list of charges in connection with the record seizure, according to Sheriff Grady Judd.
"They tried to treat us with fentanyl, and we tricked them with an arrest," Judd said during a press conference on Halloween.
The investigation revealed the fentanyl was illegally brought into the US from the Sinaloa, Mexico region by the Sinaloa Cartel drug trafficking organization to Compton, California, then to Riverview, Florida, and finally to Polk County, police said.
Multiple law enforcement agencies collaborated during the undercover operation. Detectives arranged to purchase large quantities of fentanyl with Medina and then completed drug transactions with Medina, Rocha and Contreras, police said.
At one point during the investigation, Medina was tracked driving to Compton and then back to Florida, police said. The Florida Highway Patrol arrested him in Suwannee County on October 18, on his way back to central Florida.
Detectives met with Ruperto in Bartow on October 12, and he was arrested without incident.
On October 20, detectives met Contreras in Riverview where he delivered 6 kilograms of fentanyl to undercover detectives. Five days later, detectives arranged to meet again in the Riverview area and Contreras was arrested. An ICE hold has been placed on him due to his illegal status.
All totaled, 10 kilograms of fentanyl were seized. The street value of the 10 kilos of fentanyl is approximately $2.5 million, according to police.
"Ten kilograms is enough fentanyl to kill 5 million people if taken in overdose amounts. These drugs are extremely dangerous, and the people bringing them across an unsecure border are evil," Judd said in a statement. "Of the three men arrested during this investigation, two are in the country illegally and the Sinaloa Cartel drug trafficking organization is the source of supply for this poison."
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis criticized the Biden administration for not doing enough to address the issue at the US-Mexico border.
"Due to the continued refusal of the Biden Administration to address the border crisis he created, states like Florida are forced to pick up the slack," DeSantis said. "The fentanyl taken off our streets today is enough to kill 5 million Floridians, and is yet another demonstration of how the federal government has failed to protect U.S. citizens."
