VOLUSIA COUNTY, FLORIDA — On Tuesday, Volusia County Sheriff Michael Chitwood announced 41 arrests connected to a major fentanyl trafficking ring responsible for transporting 2,300 grams of illicit fentanyl into Central Florida.
“These drug traffickers were responsible for trafficking kilo amounts of fentanyl in Volusia and Lake County on a monthly basis,” Chitwood said at a press conference. “There should be no sympathy of any kind for what these scumbags are doing to our community.”
“INFILTRATE AND DISMANTLE”
“Operation Daly Dose,” named after Drew Daly, 29, who was arrested earlier this year for trafficking fentanyl, began in August 2022 as a multi-jurisdictional investigation into cocaine and fentanyl trafficking in Central Florida.
According to Chitwood, the amount of fentanyl brought through the region is enough to wipe out 1.5 million people. Officials said they used wiretaps, search warrants and other intelligence gathering techniques to “infiltrate and dismantle” the operation.
The suspects allegedly stored drugs inside PVC piping and buried fentanyl pill presses near a “stash house” in Orange City. Detectives also found drugs and weapons hidden in trees around the property.
“These guys aren’t that smart, but they’re also not that stupid,” Chitwood said.
“SECURE THAT FUCKING BORDER”
The task force estimates that six to eight kilos per month have been “coming in and destroying” the Central Florida region since the investigation began. Chitwood also explained where the fentanyl comes from and how it gets into the U.S.
“China sends the precursors into Mexico and those labs bring it to us,” Chitwood said. “I think we’re pretty confident in saying that when you have a porous border, this is what comes into our community.”
“We’re going to keep it up on our end, but we do need people to secure that fucking border and make it a little bit more difficult to get the narcotics in here,” Chitwood exclaimed.
Over 3,000 grams of drugs were seized in the bust:
- 2,319.7 grams of fentanyl
- 53 grams of black tar heroin
- 138 grams of cocaine
- 423 grams of meth
- 43 grams of MDMA
- 180 opioid pills
- 6.5 pounds of marijuana
- 11 firearms, one of which was stolen
- $100,000 in cash
