CLEVELAND, Ohio — The death of Dayton Police Detective Jorge Del Rio broke hearts across Ohio in November, when he was shot while serving a search warrant at a home where police found fentanyl.
- Fentanyl is among the major drugs covered in the 2019 National Drug Threat Assessment
- The DEA said most of the drugs coming into Ohio are from cartels
- Ohio is in the top 3 in the nation for bulk cash seizures
Keith Martin, special agent in charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration offices in Ohio and Michigan, says the fentanyl detectives were trying to seize that night is one of the biggest causes of Ohio’s drug problem, with over 15,000 overdoses between 2015 and 2018.
“We are seeing kilogram quantities of fentanyl flooding Ohio," said Martin. "If you go back to 2016, Akron, I believe, was the first city we saw carfentanil in. We had a rash of overdoses in about a 48-hour time span."
Martin says fentanyl is among the major drugs covered in the 2019 National Drug Threat Assessment, along with heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine, which Martin says is making a major resurgence in Ohio.
“We seized almost an eighth of a ton of meth in the state of Ohio in one day. Quantities like that are typically seen at border crossings down at the southwest border, so to seize that amount or that quantity in one day in Ohio, was pretty telling,” said Martin.
According to Martin, most of the drugs coming to Ohio are from cartels, and are smuggled through major state highways like Interstate 80.
It’s not just drugs the DEA is finding. The report also says Ohio is in the top 3 in the nation for bulk cash seizures.
“It’s concerning because that’s all money that’s going back to Mexico to continue to fund the cartels and if we can stop that cash from getting into Mexico, it’s hurting the cartels,” said Martin.
Help could be on the way for at least one Ohio city, after Cleveland was one of seven cities selected for Operation Relentless Pursuit, a federal operation that will target violent crime by investing $71 million in federal grants for hiring up to 400 new officers, adding new task force officers, paying overtime and benefits, and buying equipment.
These are resources Martin hopes will help the DEA prevent more tragic drug-related deaths.
“When you’re talking to a mother or father who’s lost a child, 20-year-old kid from a drug overdose, that’s tough. Those are the tough days on the job,” said Martin.