Is This True? Tampa Prosecutor Calls Fentanyl ‘Deadliest Drug Threat’ in Nation’s History
TAMPA – Yes, A federal trial that just concluded in Tampa is providing insight into the various ways that law enforcement is battling the drug overflow as the fentanyl crisis in the United States puts millions of lives at risk.
Roger Handberg, the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida and Tampa’s senior federal prosecutor, called it “the deadliest drug threat that our country has ever faced.”
His staff works hard to counter such threat. Handberg stated that since assuming office, the Middle District of Florida has seen the seizure of enough drugs to five times the size of all 13 million residents.
READ MORE: A Tampa man was found guilty of participating in a narcotics trafficking operation that brought meth and fentanyl from Mexico into Florida.
As for the drug trafficking networks they recently finished prosecuting, he said they are dedicated to taking them down.
On Thursday, a federal court found Enock Edouard guilty. According to reports, he operates as a middle-tier trafficker, operating between local dealers and the cartel.
A Sun City Center overdose death, according to Handberg, sparked the investigation.
Law enforcement professionals are someone I respect because they didn’t just close the case. They followed the evidence to the person they believed to be the drug supplier, just as you would have wanted them to do. “And they believed they could determine from there that Mr. Edouard was one of that person’s suppliers,” Handberg added.
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Wire taps, surveillance, search warrants, and even a chase were carried out by investigators after they tracked that evidence to Edouard.
Edouard and his colleagues used FedEx to ship the drugs via mail in paint cans and candles, which investigators quickly discovered. Handberg added that they began wrapping the medicines like a big burrito and checking them into commercial flights when that became ineffective.
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“There is nothing really exceptional about any of the methods we’ve seen in this case. It’s true that we observe them in a variety of situations,” Handberg remarked.
A task force was established by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in 2020 to address the increase of drugs found in packages, despite FedEx being a privately held firm. Its latest data shows it’s seized 124 pounds of illegal narcotics and made more than 2,000 arrests for drug trafficking using U.S. Mail.
While executing search warrants in this case, investigators found 15 firearms and two hand grenades.
“Just imagine the danger that those officers were in doing that search warrant. And again, it’s just another example of how they put themselves in harm’s way, to protect the rest of us,” said Handberg.
Edouard has not yet been sentenced, but he faces a minimum of 10 years in prison.