Photo: CBS 12
The largest fentanyl bust in the history of Martin County was made this week.
Sheriff William Snyder says 10,000 fentanyl pills were seized from three men who traveled to the area from New York.
Deputies were tipped off by confidential informants that the drugs would be arriving from the Bronx and made the arrests on Wednesday in a shopping plaza parking lot in Stuart.
"This was a battle that we won but this is a war that we are continuing to wage."
Snyder believes the suspects were part of a major trafficking organization that spans across South Florida.
“Absolutely flabbergasted. We’re used to five pills, six pills, seven pills. 10,000? That’s unheard of."
The sheriff says the pills were disguised as oxycodone and could have led to thousands of deaths for unsuspecting buyers.
“Our field tests indicate this is a high-potency fentanyl. This is not a low-dose fentanyl. Every one of those pills had the potential of killing whoever took them.”
The three men are all being held on $200,000 bond and that's something that's not sitting well with Snyder.
“I suspect with that lower bond they’ll be out of jail, and they’ll be gone, and they are a flight risk."
The sheriff says the fentanyl has a street value of about $300,000.