More than 900,000 Potentially Lethal Doses of Fentanyl Removed from the Streets of Los Angeles in Major Drug Bust
DEA Headquarters
The Los Angeles Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF), along with its partners at the Glendale Police Department, made a major, potentially lifesaving, drug seizure earlier this week in support of Operation Take Back America.
Investigators from the Los Angeles HSTF, working in partnership with the Glendale Police Department, stopped a vehicle that contained counterfeit pills, cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, and MDMA. Subsequently, a search warrant was served at the suspect’s residence, and a suspected drug stash house, which resulted in the seizure of 500,000 counterfeit pills (M30s, Xanax, Oxycodone & Ecstasy pills), a large trash bag containing loose fentanyl powder, an additional 15 kilograms of fentanyl – to include purple fentanyl, 30 pounds of crystal methamphetamine, 5 kilograms of cocaine, heroin, GHB, ketamine, psilocybin mushrooms, 3 assault rifles, 4 handguns, ammunition, and $30,000.
“This wasn't just a seizure—it was a lifesaving intervention,” said DEA Associate Chief of Operations Brian Clark, Pacific & Southwest Region. “Half a million counterfeit pills and 15 kilos of fentanyl are now off the streets because DEA and our Homeland Security Task Force partners moved as one. This is what real coordination looks like—and it's why communities in Los Angeles are safer today."
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche was in Los Angeles this week to meet with senior law enforcement officials and stopped by the HSTF to congratulate task force members on a successful operation. Deputy Attorney General Blanche saw first-hand the results of strong partnerships and how HSTFs are making American communities safer.
Group Photo (L to R): Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, DEA Associate Chief of Operations Region 5 Pacific & Southwest Brian Clark, FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Molvar, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli, FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jeremy Stebbins, Assistant Deputy Attorney General Aakash Singh.
The HSTF is a whole of government approach targeting foreign terrorist organizations and transnational organized crime. Los Angeles HSTF Group 1 is comprised of partners from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI), the United States Attorney's Office (USAO) for Central District of California, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI), the United States Marshals Service (USMS), the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), the Los Angeles High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), and the Department of State-Diplomatic Security Service (DSS).