Authorities busted two alleged drug dealers from Buena Park, California, that had a sufficient amount of fentanyl to kill 4.7 million people, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.
The bust marked Orange County’s largest drug bust in 16 years, the district attorney’s office said in a press release. Multiple charges have been filed against the two alleged drug dealers, 36-year-old Edgar Alfonso Lamas and 53-year-old Carlos Raygozaparedes, according to the release.
After police officers pulled over a minivan in Buena Park on March 17, they found 20.5 pounds of fentanyl pills, 189.7 pounds of cocaine and 821 pounds of meth, officials said. (RELATED: Desperate Mothers Of Drug Addicts Take Out Billboard In San Francisco Lamenting Drug Crisis)
BREAKING: DA Spitzer announces felony charges in Orange County’s largest drug bust in 16 years. Buena Park drug dealers arrested with 20.5 pounds of #fentanyl, enough to kill 4.7 million people. Plus 800 pounds of Meth and 190 pounds of cocaine. @KFIAM640 pic.twitter.com/52BHHe49tc
— Corbin Carson (@CorbinCarson) April 6, 2022
The two men have been charged with three felony counts of sale or transportation for sale of a controlled substance, two felony counts of possession of sale of a controlled substance and one felony count of possession of sale of a controlled substance, according to the district attorney’s office. They also face several felony enhancement charges related to weight and volume of the controlled substances.
“Fentanyl is cheap, it’s easy to get and it is killing our children, our coworkers, and tens of thousands of innocent Americans who don’t have to die,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in the statement. “Drug dealers don’t care about you or your loved ones — they only care about their bottom line and making as much money as possible. With fentanyl in an estimated 40 percent of street drugs, it’s not a matter of if but when someone you know and love dies from fentanyl. We have to continue to do everything we can to combat this deadly drug epidemic and save lives.”
Lamas and Raygozaparedes remain in custody on $5 million bail after pleading not guilty to the charges.
In November 2021, Spitzer announced his office could charge convicted drug dealers with murder if the drugs they manufactured or distributed to people led to death, according to KTLA.