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The DEA stated on Tuesday that a task force team in Manhattan apprehended a New Jersey woman who was trafficking roughly 15,000 rainbow fentanyl pills stuffed in Lego boxes. According to the narcotics enforcement agency, this “major seizure” of multi-colored pills was the largest in New York City history.
On September 28, at 7:10 p.m., task force members — officers from New York City’s DEA and the NYPD — were watching a woman who was ready to enter a rental car in the Hudson Yards neighborhood. She was seen with a large black tote bag wrapped around an object.
Officers pulled over the vehicle and discovered the woman in the back seat with two black tote bags and a Lego box inside. After an investigation, authorities revealed that the box contained roughly 15,000 colorful pills wrapped in black tape next to Lego blocks.
Latesha Bush, 48, of New Jersey, was detained on the scene and charged with illegal possession of a controlled substance in the first and third degrees. She is suspected to have driven the rented car from New Jersey before being apprehended.
According to the DEA, early testing of the multi-colored pills “confirmed the presence of fentanyl,” and the narcotics were trafficked from Mexico. The pills were additionally embossed with “M” and “30” to resemble oxycodone hydrochloride 30 mg pills, according to the FDA.
“Fentanyl is the greatest severe threat to our public health and safety,” DEA Special Agent Frank Tarantino stated Tuesday in response to Bush’s arrest, according to the New York Post. “It’s poison.” It’s every parent’s worst nightmare, especially with Halloween fast approaching.”
The rainbow fentanyl discovery comes as the DEA has been warning about Mexican drug gangs targeting youngsters with deceptive tactics in order to get them addicted to opiates at a young age. “Using cheery colors to make a lethal drug appear fun and innocuous is a new low, even for the Mexican cartels,” said Bridget G. Brennan, special narcotics prosecutor in New York City. “Fentanyl is already involved in more than 80% of the city’s overdose deaths.”
Breitbart News reported last week that two Maryland men were arrested in Connecticut for allegedly trafficking 15,000 rainbow fentanyl pills concealed in Skittles and Nerds packaging. The DEA recently released the findings of the third phase of their “One Pill Can Kill” campaign, in which they “seized more than 10.2 million fentanyl tablets and nearly 980 pounds of fentanyl powder from May 23 to September 8, 2022.”
During this time, 390 cases were investigated, 51 of which were tied to overdose poisonings, and 35 of which were linked directly to one or both of the primary Mexican cartels responsible for the majority of fentanyl in the United States – the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
Furthermore, 129 investigations are associated with social media platforms such as Snapchat, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and TikTok. Over 107,000 Americans died as a consequence of a drug overdose in 2021, with nearly 80,000 of those deaths attributable to opioids like fentanyl.
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