ATLANTA — More than 8.2 kilos of fentanyl and three ounces each of heroin and cocaine are now off the streets. Investigators said the drugs had an estimated value of $1 million.
According to law enforcement, the drug bust went down in early December, but we are now getting a first look at the fentanyl agents found stashed inside a home in Atlanta.
Investigators told Channel 2’s Audrey Washington that the dealers then sold the drugs throughout several counties, including Paulding, Cobb, Douglas, and Carroll counties.
“That fentanyl alone could have killed up to 4.1 million people,” Jordan Yuodis with the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office said.
The Northwest Georgia Drug Task Force also arrested 10 people they believe were connected to this drug ring.
They also seized over 10,000 pills, 71 firearms, a live hand grenade and about $250,000 in cash.
“Putting harmful drugs, not only on our streets but on streets across the metro. So this is a very, very large operation,” Yuodis said.
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According to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Georgia Department of Public Health, fentanyl contributed to more than 60% of all overdose deaths in Georgia in 2022. That number declined only slightly in 2024.
This year, Channel 2 Action News spoke with Carol McDermott, who lost her two sons within months of each other to a fentanyl overdose.
“Their journeys from experimentation, to addiction, to death was fast,” McDermott said.
McDermott pushed for stricter laws.
Recently, Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation that mandates a mandatory minimum 10-year prison sentence for those convicted of trafficking between four to eight grams of fentanyl.
“My sons are in two urns because of what they did. I do not condone it, but they paid for it with their lives,” McDermott said.