LAPD Seizes Fentanyl, Black Tar Heroin Worth $4 Million

A Drug Enforcement Administration chemist checks confiscated powder containing fentanyl at the DEA Northeast Regional Laboratory in New York on Oct. 8, 2019. Don Emmert/AFP via Getty Images

Los Angeles police discovered more than 50 pounds of fentanyl and nine pounds of black tar heroin while carrying out a search warrant on Thursday, according to officials.

A 28-year-old man was arrested on a charge of sales of fentanyl, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) said in a statement.

The discovery of the drugs came as multiple LAPD divisions, including the Central Area Narcotics Enforcement Detail and the Central Gang Impact Team, conducted an undercover narcotics investigation near downtown Los Angeles.

Law enforcement officers executed a search warrant in the 7500 block of Central Avenue in South Los Angeles, finding more than 50 pounds of powdered fentanyl and nearly nine pounds of black tar heroin, alongside $14,500.

Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid that is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine.

Mexican cartels have been increasingly importing fentanyl from China before pressing it into pills or mixing it into other counterfeit pills that look like Xanax, Adderall, or oxycodone and selling them in the United States.

Fentanyl is responsible for around 70 percent of all drug overdose deaths in the United States.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates, nearly 75,000 Americans died from overdosing on synthetic opioids, predominantly fentanyl, in 2023.

Black tar heroin, also known as “Black Dragon,” is an addictive opioid drug typically produced in the Mexican states of Durango, Sinaloa, and Sonora, and smuggled into the United States by illegal immigrants and migrant farm workers, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

The amount of drugs seized has a street value of around $4 million, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency.

“Assuming a 2mg lethal dose, this seized fentanyl could potentially kill more than 11,000,000 people,” police said in a statement.

That figure is nearly three times the population of Los Angeles.

LAPD did not release further details regarding the seized drugs or the undercover narcotics operation.

Members of the public with information regarding the fentanyl and black tar heroin discovered during Thursday’s raid are being asked to contact the Central Area Narcotics Enforcement Detail at 213-486-6664.

Alternatively, members of the public with information can contact Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or visit lacrimestoppers.org and leave an anonymous tip.

The Epoch Times has contacted LAPD for further comment.