DAYTON, Ohio— Earlier this week Dayton Sheriffs office announced a seizure of substantial size, 40 pounds of suspected Fentanyl during the week of October 21st, 2019. The quantity of fentanyl in this case amounts to chemical warfare and a weapon of mass destruction, enough to kill the population of Ohio, said Yost. Now Police have found that the substance not only was fentanyl but also Carfentanil.
Carfentanil is around one hundred times stronger than fentanyl and thousands of times stronger than heroin according to Sheriffs.
What makes Carfentanil worse is that Narcan is not effective against it, said officers, so people who use drugs with the deadly chemical mixed in will not be able to be revived by first responders.
“We have only seen carfentanil in the crime lab or in the overdose death through the Coroner’s Office rarely in the past year. Having this volume in our community is a significant change and raised the potential for an untold number of deaths far greater that what we were dealing with in 2017,” says Dr. Kent Harshbarger.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, Montgomery County Sheriff Rob Streck, Federal Bureau of Investigations Acting Special Agent in Charge Joseph Deters, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Vance Callender, announced the seizure of over 40 pounds of the now known Fentanyl/Carfentanil mix during the week of October 21st, 2019.
As part of an investigation, authorities with the Miami Valley Bulk Smuggling Task Force which is part of the Ohio Attorney General’s Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission, Federal Bureau of Investigations Safe Street Task Force and the RANGE Task Force arrested Shamar Davis, 31, Anthony Franklin, 30, and Grady Jackson, 37, of Dayton, Ohio. All are facing a charge of Possession with Intent to Distribute 400 or more grams of Fentanyl mix and Felon in Possession of a Firearm.
“These illegal drugs ruin lives, destroys families, fuels violence, drives up property crime, and wrecks neighborhoods. Anyone associated with it—especially those who sell and traffic it—are doing violence to people and causing harm in our communities,” said Sheriff Rob Streck. “We are proud of the teamwork on this investigation. With the help from our partner agencies, we were all able to take dangerous drug dealers off the streets.”
Authorities arrested the subjects after gathering evidence indicating that they were allegedly involved in narcotics trafficking. As part of the investigation, agents seized over (20) kilograms of suspected Fentanyl, 1500 grams of suspected Methamphetamine, 500 grams of suspected Heroin, (3) firearms and over $30,000 US Currency.
“The quantity of fentanyl in this case amounts to chemical warfare and a weapon of mass destruction,” Yost said. “I applaud the work of our task force and our law enforcement partners – this is an enormous amount of deadly drugs that will no longer be on our streets.”
“Fentanyl and methamphetamine are responsible for the vast majority of overdose deaths in our area, removing these materials from our streets will save lives,” said Montgomery County Coroner Dr. Kent Harshbarger.
“Twenty-kilograms of fentanyl is enough to kill the entire population of Ohio, many times over,” said Vance Callender, Homeland Security Investigations special agent in charge for Michigan and Ohio. “As this significant seizure makes clear, HSI and our partners are united in our resolve to protect our communities and our country from the deadly scourge of drug trafficking. We stand ready to use every tool and resource at our disposal to attack and dismantle these organizations from the low-level dealers to the source of supply with our law enforcement partners.”
“This multi-million dollar fentanyl seizure clearly shows the enormity of the opioid problem in this area,” stated Acting Special Agent in Charge Joseph M. Deters of the FBI’s Cincinnati Division. “Law enforcement will continue to work aggressively to address the illegal drug supply, but there is also a continuing need to address demand as well.”
