Three Men Arrested in Nashville Undercover Drug Operation

Illicit fentanyl-laced pills and other narcotics are displayed by law enforcement during a press conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Dec. 16, 2021. Scottsdale PD

Nashville police recently arrested three individuals in connection with narcotics activities, seizing illegal substances in the process.

“An undercover narcotics operation Fri night targeting fentanyl-related street sales downtown led to the arrests of Khalil D. Smith, Nesean Thompson & Michael Terry on felony drug charges. Cocaine laced with fentanyl, a gun & cash were seized. Investigation continuing,” the Metro Nashville Police Department said in a May 21 tweet.

The three men were arrested after selling three grams of a white powdery substance for $200 to an undercover detective. Officers seized 21 grams of marijuana, 23 Xanax bars, and two 11-gram bags of the white substance that were subsequently found to contain cocaine and fentanyl.

A gun was found in the possession of Smith, who was earlier prohibited from possessing firearms after being convicted of aggravated assault two years prior. Thompson was wanted on six felony aggravated assault warrants related to a shooting incident that took place on April 24.

Thompson is being held on a bond of $377,500, Smith for $100,000, and Terry for $15,000.

On May 20, Nashville’s Metro Public Health Department issued a “Fentanyl Warning,” alerting people that there was an increase in drug overdose-related incidents taking place in the downtown region.

The presence of fentanyl in the region is putting individuals at “high risk of overdose injury or death,” it said. Fentanyl is most commonly encountered as a powder mixture with cocaine, counterfeit Oxycodone pills, and counterfeit Xanax pills. Some people had taken what they believed was cocaine before overdosing.

In Davidson County, the department detected fentanyl usage among around 80 percent of overdose deaths this year alone. It encouraged individuals and businesses to carry naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal medication, to save lives.

According to Marie Williams, commissioner at the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (TDMHSAS), the wave of fentanyl overdoses should be more accurately classified as accidental poisoning incidents.

“People might think they’re taking one drug but actually getting another. In other cases, people are taking pills that are so convincing, you can’t tell them from the real thing,” she said, according to a May 10 TDMHSAS news release.

“Because of the prevalence of fentanyl, it’s never been more important to be trained on how to use naloxone to save a life and to keep it on you at all times.”

In 2020, Tennessee saw 2014 deaths due to drug overdoses related to fentanyl. This is double the number of deaths seen in 2019 and close to 12 times the 169 deaths registered in 2015.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), fentanyl was linked to the most number of overdose deaths in 2021, with 71,238 people becoming victims of the drug.

Among Americans between the ages of 18 and 45, illicit fentanyl became the top cause of deaths last year, surpassing accidents, COVID-19 deaths, and suicides, according to Families Against Fentanyl (FAF).