HARTFORD, Conn. — A massive drug bust was carried out by Hartford police on Wednesday. Officers said they recovered enough fentanyl to package more than 44,000 bags of the potentially lethal drug.
It happened the same day that Sen. Chris Murphy called on Congress to act to address the nationwide fentanyl crisis.
Sen. Murphy said there’s a direct link between gun trafficking and the fentanyl crisis. Police with boots on the ground here said that’s true, and that’s what happened in this latest bust.
"A little over a kilo of fentanyl, 1,200 grams of fentanyl was recovered, which is enough to make roughly 40,000 to 45,000 bags of fentanyl to be sold in the street," said Lt. Anthony Pia.
Hartford police found these drugs while executing search warrants they obtained over the course of an investigation.
To put this in perspective, a little more than 120,000 people live in Hartford. That would amount to one bag of fentanyl for one in every three people living in this city. But that’s not all officers seized during this bust.
Police also seized multiple guns, including a ghost rifle.
"Guns and drugs go together. They always have. They always will," said Pia. "Getting the guns off the street is very important to the safety of our community."
The state health department said fentanyl is to blame for 86% of all overdose deaths in Connecticut. But elected leaders in our state say this problem requires looking beyond Connecticut's borders.
“Fentanyl is a plague in my communities in Connecticut, in my colleagues' communities," said Murphy as he took to the Senate floor Wednesday, calling on Congress to address the link between the Mexico cartel's gun trade with the U.S. to the fentanyl crisis.
“There is a straight-through line between the power of their cartels and the fentanyl trade that is killing American citizens," said Murphy. “We need to recognize that if we want to do something about fentanyl coming into the United States, if we want to save our citizens from the ruin that we have to do something about the guns that move through the United States into Mexico."
DeAndria Turner is a multi-media journalist at FOX61 News. She can be reached at dturner@fox61.com.
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