At least three people are in custody after federal and local law enforcement agents began raiding several properties in Albuquerque in an operation tied to the largest fentanyl bust in FBI history.
The Violent Gang Task Force began serving warrants on multiple locations in the South Valley including at least one home near Coors and Arenal, a recent KRQE news report said. The task force is comprised of officers, deputies and agents from the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office; New Mexico State Police; Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office; and the Albuquerque, Rio Rancho and Laguna Police departments.
Albuquerque FBI Special Agent in Charge Raul Bujanda said in a briefing that the operation is connected to a Sept. 1, 2022, seizure in which the FBI and task force agents confiscated more than 1 million fentanyl pills and stacks of cash while executing 16 search warrants.
Bujanda did not provide many details on what agents claimed in the latest raid, saying only that “preliminary results” indicated “a lot of guns and some drugs,” KRQE reported. When asked if the seized drugs were fentanyl, Bujanda said, “If we’re going back to what we did in September, that’s a safe assumption to make.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray noted that the September operation was the “largest” fentanyl bust in the history of the Bureau, with a seizure of $1.8 million in cash and at least 37 firearms.
Bujanda said the group targeted in the recent operation was “an associated group” to the same group that was busted in September. FBI pictures of that operation showed wheelbarrows full of bags of cash. Additionally, more than 1 million fentanyl pills were found along with 142 pounds of methamphetamine, two stolen vehicles and two hand grenades.
Bujanda commented that more raids can be expected.
"We’ll continue what we’re doing, on a daily basis and we’re going to talk to these individuals," he said. "They’re going to tell us, just like Shaggy said, right? ‘It Wasn’t Me.’ But the reality is we’ll keep doing it because it's the right thing to do.”