President Donald Trump’s ambitious effort to lock down the border and deport as many illegal immigrants as possible has been, at least in part, a response to the deadly flow of fentanyl into the U.S. from Mexican cartels.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has also been laser-focused on the international drug trade, as evidenced by her recent announcement of a huge operation to take down one such trafficking ring.
She provided details about the recent bust this week, as The Hill reported:
Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday touted the “largest fentanyl bust in our nation’s history” — a coordinated takedown spanning five states that recovered 11.5 kilos of fentanyl, including about 3 million fentanyl-laced pills labeled as oxycodone that led to the arrests of multiple people tied to the violent Mexican Sinaloa cartel.
“It marks the most significant victory in our nation’s fight against fentanyl and drug trafficking to date,” Bondi said during a news conference, adding that the sweeping effort “targeted one of the largest and most dangerous drug trafficking and foreign terrorist organizations in our country.”
The alleged drug trafficking operation spanned across New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and Colorado, and the multiagency investigation began with undercover operations and surveillance six months ago, authorities said. In addition to the fentanyl haul, officers said they recovered 35 kilos of methamphetamine, 7.5 kilos of cocaine, 4.5 kilos of heroin, and 49 rifles and pistols.
“This was an incredible operation,” Bondi said. “It took months and months of work … to get this massive amount of drugs and guns off our streets.”
The alleged leader of the drug ring, Heriberto Salazar Amaya, was arrested in Oregon. At least six of the people arrested in the drug bust were in the country illegally, Bondi noted, but she isn’t calling for them to be deported.