Growing fentanyl crisis is leaving ‘trail of death’ in its wake, federal officials warn
LA TimesA bag of fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills seized by law enforcement. In the last two months, Homeland Security Investigations agents have seized as much fentanyl as they did in all of 2019, officials said Monday. In the last two months, agents with Homeland Security Investigations have seized as much fentanyl as they did in all of 2019, federal officials said, warning that the amount of the drug hitting the streets is increasing every year with deadly consequences. “They went to social media.” Federal officials believe most of the fentanyl in the U.S. is being smuggled in, mostly by the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels, which manufacture fentanyl pills for about 13 cents each in Mexico, Bodner said. But law enforcement officials said they’ve also found more incidents of the drugs being manufactured inside the U.S. On Friday, for example, a federal grand jury indicted 36-year-old Christopher Hampton, accusing the Cerritos man of operating drug labs in Inglewood and Compton that used high-speed presses to make fentanyl and methamphetamine pills.