Millions of dollars’ worth of fentanyl, cocaine, heroin seized; 12 arrested in drug raids

A series of raids in Lawrence and Methuen by a team of law enforcement officers led to the seizure of 24 kilograms of deadly fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine — worth millions of dollars — $100,000 in cash, and four guns, Attorney General Maura Healey said Thursday.

A total of 12 people were arrested during the raids that grew out of a two-year federal, state and local investigation launched in January 2017 by special agents at the US Drug Enforcement Agency office in Manchester, N.H., who sought the source of drugs coming into the Granite State, officials said.

That investigation led to Lawrence and Methuen, where Homeland Security, State Police, Methuen police, and other local police agencies focused their attention in those two communities, leading to Wednesday’s raids, authorities said.

Healey said the volume of drugs seized was the largest in the history of the attorney general’s office. She said the investigation used high-tech surveillance techniques, which she declined to describe, and traditional law enforcement practices.

“This was a major takedown when it comes to disrupting drug trafficking operations in this region,’’ Healey said, adding that the ring sold drugs throughout the Northeast and was controlled in part by people living in New Jersey.

More than 100 members of law enforcement at the federal, state, and local level were involved, Healey said, explaining the bust of the “sophisticated narcotic operation.”

“A lot of this involves old-school policing. It’s risky, it’s dangerous, it’s time-consuming,” she said.

Healey said her office secured a $3 million grant from the Department of Justice to partially fund a fentanyl task force. Since it began operations, the task force has seized 227 kilograms of fentanyl and heroin, nearly 14,000 opioid pills, and $6 million in cash.
Nearly 300 people have been charged with drug-related crimes.

“We’re going to continue to come hard at this,” she said, “and take the poison out of our streets.”

Of the 12 arrested, eight were from Lawrence, four were from Methuen, and all were between 24 and 52 years old. They were scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in Lawrence District Court.

“These drug trafficking organizations have one goal in mind and that is to make money. They have no regard whatsoever for the safety and well-being of those that they distribute fentanyl to. They just don’t care,” DEA Special Agent Jon DeLena said.

John R. Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @JREbosglobe. Sabrina Schnur can be reached at sabrina.schnur@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @sabrina_schnur.