The Louisville Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration seized nearly 1.8 million deadly doses of fentanyl and more during “Operation Last Mile,” an initiative aimed at breaking up Sinaloa and Jalisco cartel operations in the United States, the DEA announced Monday.
In addition to seizing the fentanyl, the Louisville Division also seized 544 pounds of methamphetamine, 621 firearms and more than $4 million in assets, according to the DEA. Additionally, 137 arrests were made in 28 unique investigations, the DEA said. The DEA’s Louisville Division covers Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia.
The DEA said in a press release the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels are responsible for most of the fentanyl and methamphetamine deaths in the United States.
“The Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels pose the greatest threat facing Americans today, flooding our communities with fentanyl and fake pills and killing our friends and loved ones in record numbers,” J. Todd Scott, Louisville Special Agent in Charge. said in a press release. “DEA will be relentless in our targeting of these transnational criminal organizations and we won’t stop until they are defeated.”
The DEA said the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels use local violent street gangs, criminal groups and individuals to infiltrate communities with fentanyl and meth. Cartel members also use a variety of social media platforms to coordinate logistics and reach out to victims.
“The Cartels use social media and encrypted platforms to run their operations and reach out to victims, and when their product kills Americans, they simply move on to try to victimize the millions of other Americans who are social media users,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in a news release.
Nationally, DEA agents captured nearly 44 million fentanyl pills, more than 6,500 pounds of fentanyl powder, more than 91,000 pounds of methamphetamine, 8,497 firearms, and more than $100 million, the DEA said. The powder and pills seized equals nearly 193 million deadly doses of fentanyl, according to the DEA.
More than 3,000 arrests were made in the operation, the DEA said.
“The results of this operation – over 3,000 arrests and the seizure of almost 44 million fentanyl pills – demonstrate the Justice Department’s unrelenting commitment to working with our state and local partners to keep fentanyl out of our communities and save American lives,” Attorney General Merrick Garland in a news release.