PORTLAND, Oregon — Deputies with the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office seized the largest amount of fentanyl in the agency's history this week following a months-long investigation, according to the sheriff's office.
On July 25, deputies with the Special Investigations Unit saw a "wanted person" near Southwest 20th Avenue and Southwest Main Street walk to a vehicle. In a news release, the sheriff's office didn't provide any details elaborating on why the person was "wanted," but said that the deputies took them into custody.
The deputies obtained a search warrant for the person's vehicle and apartment. They found gallon-sized plastic bags filled with around 58,000 fentanyl pills and 16 pounds of fentanyl powder, the sheriff's office said. The agency estimates that 10 of the 16 pounds of fentanyl powder would have amounted to around 50,000 pills. Deputies believe the remaining six pounds would have remained in powder form, according to the sheriff's office. In total, the sheriff's office estimates that the deputies seized the equivalent of about 138,000 pills with an estimated value between $320,000 to $400,000.
The deputies also found scales, a manual-operated pill press and a commercial grade pill press.
The name of the person the deputies served search warrants to hasn't been released yet due to "investigative reasons," the sheriff's office said.
In 2022, the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office seized 92,000 fentanyl pills and other drugs during a traffic stop in Clackamas County. That was the agency's second-largest illegal fentanyl seizure ever.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid drug approved for treating severe pain, most often for advanced cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, in recent years, there has been a major increase in the number of fake pills containing a lethal dose of fentanyl, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) reports. Six out of 10 DEA-tested pills with fentanyl contain a potentially lethal dose.
