Fort Worth police arrested two men and seized 28,000 fentanyl pills, 10 guns and more than $100,000 in cash in an undercover drug buy last week, police said.
Melvin Ladrelle Kellough and Atomic Dianthony Greene were arrested by Fort Worth SWAT officers Thursday, according to a federal criminal complaint.
Officers worked with an informant who admitted buying large amounts of fentanyl from Kellough for several months, police said.
The informant agreed to buy 25,000 fentanyl pills from Kellough while under constant police surveillance, the complaint said.
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SWAT officers arrested Kellough as he was about to make the delivery, police said. A loaded Glock .40-caliber handgun was in his waistband.
Police arrested Greene in the passenger seat of Kellough’s car, and a loaded AR-15 style rifle and a loaded 9mm handgun were found on the floorboard of the vehicle, police said.
The two men also had more than $3,000 cash, police said.
In a later search of Kellough’s apartment on Terra Brook Street, police reported finding about 3,000 fentanyl pills, 29 pounds of marijuana, seven guns and $100,871 in cash.
Both men are held on federal charges of conspiracy to possess fentanyl with the intent to distribute.
The criminal complaint was signed by an agent for Homeland Security Investigations.
WHAT IS FENTANYL?
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. Just two milligrams of fentanyl, which is equal to 10-15 grains of table salt, is considered a lethal dose.
Without laboratory testing, there is no way to know how much fentanyl is concentrated in a pill or powder. If you encounter fentanyl in any form, do not handle it and call 911 immediately.
Fentanyl remains the deadliest drug threat facing this country. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 107,622 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2021, with 66% of those deaths related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
Drug poisonings are the leading killer of Americans between the ages of 18 and 45. Fentanyl available in the United States is primarily supplied by two criminal drug networks, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
WHAT IS RAINBOW FENTANYL?
In August 2022 the Drug Enforcement Administration issued a public advisory about the alarming emerging trend of colorful fentanyl available nationwide.
Brightly-colored fentanyl, dubbed "rainbow fentanyl" in the media, is being seized in multiple forms, including pills, powder, and blocks that resemble sidewalk chalk.
“Rainbow fentanyl—fentanyl pills and powder that come in a variety of bright colors, shapes, and sizes—is a deliberate effort by drug traffickers to drive addiction amongst kids and young adults,” said DEA Administrator Anne Milgram. “The men and women of the DEA are relentlessly working to stop the trafficking of rainbow fentanyl and defeat the Mexican drug cartels that are responsible for the vast majority of the fentanyl that is being trafficked in the United States.”
Despite claims that certain colors may be more potent than others, there is no indication through DEA’s laboratory testing that this is the case. The DEA said every color, shape, and size of fentanyl should be considered extremely dangerous.
