By Sarah N. Lynch and Andrew Goudsward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. law enforcement officials said on Tuesday that they had taken down one of the largest fentanyl trafficking operations in the country’s history, making 16 arrests and seizing millions of fentanyl pills.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi made the assertion during a press conference, adding: “They’re flooding our cities with a weapon of mass destruction, fentanyl.”
In addition to the fentanyl pills, authorities seized 11.5 kg of fentanyl powder and large amounts of methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine in last month’s operation, according to U.S. officials and court filings. Forty-one weapons were seized.
The drug trafficking network allegedly operated across six western states: Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Utah.
Fourteen of the 16 defendants were charged together in federal court in New Mexico on a range of offenses including conspiracy and illegal drug distribution, according to court documents.
Bondi and other U.S. officials alleged the leader of the network was Heriberto Salazar Amaya. He was one of six defendants arrested that Bondi alleged were living in the United States illegally.
Bondi said all six would face charges in U.S. courts, unlike in other cases in which the Justice Department under President Donald Trump opted to deport rather than prosecute undocumented immigrants who were accused of crimes.
“Sending them back to Mexico to continue on with their drug business isn’t going to happen under this administration,” Bondi said.
Bondi has sought to bolster Trump administration assertions that illegal migration poses a large-scale public safety threat to the United States.
She and other officials alleged Salazar Amaya had ties to Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel.
But court documents, including a motion by prosecutors to detain Salazar Amaya before trial, do not allege a connection to the cartel, which Trump has designated a foreign terrorist organization.
It was not immediately clear if Salazar Amaya had an attorney.
Trump officials have repeatedly made public comments tying individuals to immigrant gangs or transnational criminal organizations without always backing up those claims in court.
It was also unclear how many fentanyl pills were seized as part of the operation. A court filing cataloged the figure at more than 4 million while Bondi and other U.S. officials said during a press conference it was about 2.7 million.
A Justice Department spokesperson had no immediate comment.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Scott Malone and Howard Goller)
