San Francisco, California – The San Francisco Police Department announced they have seized more than 30 pounds of drugs. The seizure came from a investigation in Oakland when five suspects were arrested on June 3, 2021. Search warrants were executed at three locations in Oakland where two semi-automatic, unregistered, firearms were seized along with more than $45,000 and a hydraulic press for bricking kilos of drugs. A department press release also announced the seizure of more than 16 pounds of fentanyl.
The amount of fentanyl seized in this single operation is enough lethal overdoses to wipe out San Francisco’s population “four times over,” SFPD Chief Bill Scott said in a statement. “Fentanyl remains the primary chemical culprit in the record-shattering number of fatal overdoses plaguing our city, and the recovery of semi-automatic ghost guns along with this haul of deadly drugs most likely intended for the Tenderloin is ominous.”
The five men taken into custody ranged from 23 to 45 years old; they were booked on various narcotics-related charges at Santa Rita Jail, police said.
2021 is on track to be a record year for overdose deaths in San Francisco that has been fueled by the addictive synthetic opioid fentanyl. According to SFGate, from January through April, 252 people died from overdoses, according to preliminary data from the San Francisco Chief Medical Examiner’s Office. Of those, 182 involved fentanyl. In the same time frame last year, 181 died from overdoses.
