Who knew there was a Fentanyl pill manufacturing ‘laboratory’ in Cottonwood Heights, and in a family neighborhood. The DEA The DEA said they had been investigating the house and its renter for quite some time. Multiple law enforcement agencies converged on this house in a Cottonwood Heights neighborhood to serve a search warrant for a suspected fentanyl pill manufacturing operation. The illegal pill manufacturing operation was found in the basement of this house, located on the intersection of Danish Ridge Way and Titian Way.
"We are dealing with substances here that are deadly to the touch," said Besser.
The DEA uncovered hundreds of thousands of counterfeit opioid tablets, along with close to $1 million in cash. They have reason to believe these pills were being distributed all over the country. The thousands of deaths that could have come from all of this dangerous counterfeit pills. Aaron Michael Shamo, 26, was arrested and hundreds of thousands of pills were seized. He was charged with possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute.
"This is absolutely catastrophic, this adds to the opioid epidemic," said DEA agent Brian Besser. "These tablets are primarily consisting of counterfeit oxycodone, 30 milligram oxycodone tablets, and counterfeit Xanax." There is no regulation method so one person may get a counterfeit pill out of one batch, take it and use it, the second person may take the pill and die," said Besser.
The Police and DEA are still looking into whether there are other people that were involved. AS for Shamo, he is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine if convicted. This was one of the biggest drug busts in Utah to date. He was making something like 7,000 pills an hour, imagine how many lives those pills could have taken. This was a win for the DEA and state of Utah.
Categories: Utah
