14K fentanyl pills seized in Oklahoma drug trafficking bust

Case targeted an organization moving drugs from Mexico into Oklahoma City
Authorities seized 10 pounds of heroin and over 14,000 fentanyl pills
Agents served nearly 20 additional arrest warrants for co-conspirators

Updated: Jun 13, 2023 / 08:24 AM CDT

OKLAHOMA CITY (NewsNation) — A 16-month investigation comes to an end after the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics (OBN) and several other law enforcement agencies shut down a major fentanyl and heroin trafficking network out of Oklahoma City.

OBN officials told NewsNation that the investigation targeted a drug trafficking organization moving shipments of heroin and fentanyl from Mexico to Oklahoma City.

Authorities seized 10 pounds of heroin and over 14,000 fentanyl pills trafficked into the Sooner State. The investigation started in January 2022, through several undercover operations in which purchases of fentanyl pills and packages of heroin were made,

Mark Woodward, OBN’s spokesperson, told NewsNation that authorities were able to identify and arrest multiple traffickers linked to this enterprise.

“We have been able to identify who these people are,” Woodward said. “Then, ultimately, those shipments are broken down and reach the streets throughout our state.”

Woodward said OBN agents served nearly 20 additional arrest warrants for co-conspirators tied to the investigation Thursday.

Oklahoma is a key drug trafficking state for Mexican cartels for its two major highways: I-35 and I-40. I-35 runs north and south and I-40 runs east and west, giving cartels access to many other states, with Oklahoma City servicing as a crossroads for drug trafficking routes.

Cartels sell large shipments of fentanyl to major dealers in Oklahoma City, which then supply lower-level dealers across the state and beyond. Oklahoma had the second-largest increase in fentanyl deaths out of all 50 states last year.

In 2022, more than 1,000 people died of opioid-related death in Oklahoma, a 22% increase from the year prior. Dealers lace drugs like heroin or counterfeit painkillers with fentanyl, and many times this is unknown to the person purchasing these drugs and resulting in an overdose death.

Law enforcement sources tell me they are constantly working to end the influx of drugs flowing in from the Mexican cartels with several other investigations underway right now.