CLEVELAND, Ohio — An estimated 88 pounds of suspected fentanyl and other drugs have been seized by a Cleveland FBI task force, enough to kill 20 million people, according to authorities.
“The sheer volume of drugs recovered during this seizure is astounding,” FBI Cleveland special agent-in-charge Gregory Nelsen said in a statement. The drugs have a street value of more than $5 million, the FBI says.
The FBI says two members of a drug-trafficking operation based in Mexico were arrested and that four firearms, including two assault rifles, were seized. The names of the suspects were not released.
The drugs were seized last week by the FBI Cleveland Cartel Gang Narcotics & Laundering Task Force in Cleveland and in Painesville in Lake County.
Lake County Sheriff Frank Leonbruno says in a post on Facebook that his office assisted the FBI with the drug seizures. Leonbruno warns of the deadly impact the drugs are having in Lake County and Northeast Ohio.
“Understand the drugs coming into our area are not prepared by doctors,” Leonbruno says. “They are packaged quickly. Some pills have a little fentanyl and others are purely fentanyl and will kill you. Using drugs today is like playing Russian roulette with your life.”
Numerous Northeast Ohio law-enforcement agencies assisted the FBI, including police from Cleveland, Bedford, Brooklyn, Independence, Moreland Hills, North Royalton, Painesville, Parma, Cleveland RTA, Shaker Heights, Solon, the State Highway Patrol, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office.
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