Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force Seized $14 M Worth Of Fentanyl, Largest Amount Ever Seized In Snohomish County
Lynnwood, WA 7/25/2020- Authorities in Snohomish County have seized 1,400 grams of fentanyl — worth at least $14 million — from the Lynnwood home of two people who were arrested Saturday. The cache of drugs, which also included heroin and methamphetamine, is the largest amount snagged by law enforcement in the county.
Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force investigators searched a home in the 15900 block of 35th Place West and discovered:
- About 1,400 grams of fentanyl powder, about 808 grams of heroin and about 12 grams of methamphetamine
- Blenders and digital scales with suspected drug residue on them
- Packaging materials including vacuum-sealable bags and a vacuum sealer
- Cutting agents and binding agents
- A shotgun with an obliterated serial number and a sawed-off barrel, and a handgun
- $14,000 in cash
The home’s residents, a 38-year-old man and 36-year-old woman, were arrested Saturday morning during a traffic stop in Arlington and booked into the Snohomish County Jail, Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Courtney O’Keefe said. Officers found 13 grams of heroin and a gun in the car, she said.
The man faces three felony charges of manufacturing and selling a controlled substance and the unlawful possession of a firearm. The woman faces three felony charges related to manufacturing and selling and possession of a controlled substance.
The amount of fentanyl found in the house could have been used to make 1.4 million counterfeit pills worth between $14 and $23 million, according to the task force.
“The amount of fentanyl the suspects possessed at their residence has the capability to cause the death of approximately 700,000 people,” O’Keefe said in an emailed statement about the arrests. A potentially fatal dose of fentanyl is 2 milligrams, authorities said.
Public-health officials in Washington have called fentanyl a “death drug” after seeing significant increases in overdose deaths last year from fentanyl-laced pills appearing in the guise of much less potent opioids.