$3 million worth of pills believed to contain fentanyl seized in Huntington Park

A massive stash of drugs was seized from a location in Huntington Park this week, Los Angeles County Sheriff's officials said.

Two men were arrested and more than $3 million worth of drugs were seized by the Southeast Regional Narcotics crew, which works out of the sheriff's East Los Angeles station, during the execution of a narcotics-related search warrant in Huntington Park early Wednesday morning.

The drugs seized included approximately 150,000 counterfeit blue "M-30" pills believed to contain fentanyl with an estimated street value of $3 million. Authorities also seized about 94 pounds of methamphetamine, believed to be worth $188,000, and two kilograms of powdered fentanyl, which has an estimated street value of $100,000.

The seizure came the same day as the DEA's first National Fentanyl Awareness Day, which is aimed at alerting more people to the dangers of ingesting fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is about 50 times more potent than heroin, and 100 times more potent than morphine.

According to the DEA, fentanyl is increasingly being mixed in with other illicit drugs. The CDC says an estimated 107,000 people have died of of drug overdoses in the 12-month period ending November 2021 in the United States alone, and 66% of overdose deaths involve synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.