Federal officials have arrested seven people who are accused in a massive counterfeit synthetic opioids operation and officials from the DEA said the arrests come after one of the largest seizures of fake pills they have ever seen in New England.
Postal officials said this investigation led to the dismantling of one of the largest illicit manufacturing sites ever located in Connecticut.
A federal grand jury in Bridgeport has returned an indictment charging the seven suspects, who are from New Haven, West Haven and Waterbury, according to the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
The arrests come after an investigation led by the DEA New Haven’s Tactical Diversion Squad and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service that targeted the manufacture and distribution of counterfeit oxycodone, Xanax, and Adderall tablets containing methamphetamine, protonitazene, dimethylpentylone, xylazine, and other substances, according to the United States Attorney’s office.
In June 2023, law enforcement received information that a 45-year-old New Haven resident was using a pill press to manufacture large quantities of counterfeit pills containing controlled substances and investigators determined that he and alleged co-conspirators were buying substances and pill press parts from China and elsewhere, using tableting machines to manufacture counterfeit pills in a garage he rented in East Haven, marketing and selling the pills on the dark web, and mailing pills to customers around the U.S.
Between February 2023 and February 2024, one suspect shipped more than 1,300 packages through the U.S. mail and he also distributed the counterfeit pills to associates in Connecticut, who sold them to their own customers, according to federal officials.
On Sept. 5, five of the suspects were arrested and investigators searched several locations, including a garage located on Tyler Street Extension in East Haven, and found several hundred thousand pills, two large pill presses, and pill manufacturing equipment.
One of the pill presses was capable of producing 100,000 pills per hour, federal authorities said.
An investigation is also underway into a recent drug overdose death in Connecticut and federal officials said pills recovered from the scene appear to match those produced by the organization.
Three of the suspects are currently detained and four were released pending trial.
“This investigation reveals the constant challenges that we in law enforcement face in battling the proliferation of synthetic opioids in America,” U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery said in a statement.
“This country is in the midst of a catastrophic overdose epidemic where the threat from synthetic opioids and methamphetamine disguised in fake prescription medication remains high,” Acting Special Agent in Charge Stephen Belleau, Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Division, said in a statement.
“This case showcases one of the largest seizures of fake pills the DEA has ever seen in New England,” Belleau said. Those responsible for distributing lethal drugs to the citizens of Connecticut need to be held accountable for their actions.”
This case showcases one of the largest seizures of fake pills the DEA has ever seen in New England.
Acting Special Agent in Charge Stephen Belleau, Drug Enforcement Administration
“These enforcement actions, which included the arrests of seven individuals and the execution of search warrants at six locations, resulted in the disruption of a significant trans-national operation and the dismantling of one of the largest illicit manufacturing sites ever located in Connecticut,” Ketty Larco-Ward, Inspector in Charge of the Boston Division for the Postal Inspection Service, said in a statement.
This investigation is being conducted by the DEA New Haven’s Tactical Diversion Squad and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with the assistance of the DEA Chicago Cyber Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the East Haven Police Department. The DEA Tactical Diversion Squad is composed of personnel from the DEA, the Connecticut State Police, and the West Haven, Hamden, Manchester, Bristol, Fairfield, and Seymour Police Departments.