ATLANTA — Law enforcement officials captured two suspects they said planned to bring about 30 pounds of fentanyl into Atlanta.
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Jae Chung, deputy special agent in charge with the Drug Enforcement Administration, said one was captured at the Phoenix airport. The other arrived to waiting agents at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Chung told Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Mark Winne that the total weight of the narcotics “equates to about 7 million lives that we saved potentially.”
The first suitcase was discovered by a TSA officer in Phoenix. It contained fentanyl mixed with xylazine, a combination that can be particularly deadly as it reduces the effectiveness of opioid reversal drugs like Narcan.
The DEA and Phoenix Police determined the bricks contained almost 17 pounds of fentanyl mixed with xylazine.
Authorities identified two suspects, one of whom was already en route to Atlanta. Upon arrival, DEA and FBI agents, along with Atlanta police, apprehended the second suspect and seized his luggage.
The suitcase recovered in Atlanta contained around 13 pounds of powder that field tested for fentanyl, Chung said.
The bricks seized in both places had the same markings imitating the Louis Vuitton logo.
“The markings and the color of fentanyl indicate the purity level of the fentanyl and the potency,” Chung said. “And Louis Vuitton indicates that it’s a high level or high purity fentanyl.”
The investigation is ongoing, and the two suspects are being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Georgia.
“Fentanyl traffickers are merchants of death whose business model is to profit from poisoning our community,” U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg said. “In north Georgia, they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and they should expect to serve lengthy federal sentences without the possibility of parole.”
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