1.33 pounds of fentanyl seized, suspected Chicago producer arrested in bust that experts say could save lives
CHICAGO (CBS) -- An international shipment led to the takedown of what the feds call a major fentanyl producer in Chicago.
As CBS 2's Chris Tye reported Tuesday night, the bust might help save thousands of lives.
So many who die from fentanyl don't even know it has been laced into their drug or medication. But now, one man the Drug Enforcement Administration says was behind a major fentanyl trafficking ring in Chicago was taken out of commission using a tracking device.
Two days after Valentine's Day, a box was air-mailed from Songjiang, China to Chicago. Inside, DEA Officials say, was a pill press used to make tablets.
The pill press in question was en route to 30-year-old Allen Dean of Chicago, according to police. But before it got to him, a Cook County judge approved placing a tracking device on the pill press - since the feds had reason to believe was going to be used to make counterfeit narcotics.
Using the tracker, Dean and the equipment were found in the 8000 block of South Union Avenue in Chicago. But Dean escaped arrest.
Inside the residence, police found a massive amount of what turned out to be fentanyl – 1.33 pounds in all.
The DEA said that was enough to produce 301,638 lethal Doses of the drug.
This comes days after a separate seizure at Midway International Airport of 44 pounds of fentanyl - enough to make 9.9 million lethal doses.
"We're finding and attempting to confiscate the current amounts of fentanyl that are in the drug supply," said Dr. Tanya Sorrell, who heads the Rush Substance Use Disorder Center.
Tye asked Sorrell if this bust was meaningful, or just a drop in the bucket.
"It's a start," Sorrell said. "The overwhelming amount of fentanyl that's in the drug supply in the U.S. still comes from outside the U.S. Generally, it's driven across in cars or trucks across U.S. border checkpoints."
Dean was found Monday in Chicago, and is charged with one felony count of manufacture of controlled substances.
The drugs seized had a street value of over $1 million.
Authorities say Dean was known to have been shipping fentanyl from California to Chicago for the last four year. He is being held on $500,000 bond.