Tarrant County law enforcement seizes over $16 million worth of meth in 5 weeks
Over the course of the last five weeks, the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office and other law enforcement agencies across North Texas confiscated over 1,400 lbs of pure meth — a record seizure in Tarrant County — they announced Thursday morning.
Police said the street value of the drugs that were seized, in both crystallized and liquidized form, is around $16 million.
“We continue to see these large amounts of drugs, and what we want our constituents to know, and the good citizens of Tarrant County to know, is this is a clear and present danger to us until we continue this fight,” Sheriff Bill Waybourn said at a press conference. “We also want to send a clear signal to the bad guys that as you look across here, there are many patches here from many different agencies. We have federal agencies here, state and local. We are standing shoulder to shoulder in this fight.”
The sheriff’s office, Drug Enforcement Administration, Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS)/Anti-Gang Unit and Dallas, Fort Worth, Mansfield and River Oaks police departments partnered in the two seizures, which began with investigative and surveillance work.
Police were able to find a conversion lab that changed the product from a liquid form to crystal. Investigators seized 192 kilograms of liquid methamphetamine, and 58 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, they said.
Later, a deputy located a vehicle through a license plate reader that notified them that it was stolen.
“He stopped and followed up the investigation, which ultimately led to a search warrant which led to a [one of the] seizures here,” said Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office Chief Calvin Bond. “Some of these other investigations are part of working with informants, people that we have arrested, that have been involved in the operation. … Lots of surveillance, and all that goes into this.”
Nearly 400 kilograms of crystal meth were seized in that incident.
The law enforcement officials said much of the drug distribution is coming from Mexican cartels which are a “clear and present danger” in the DFW area.
“They’re here because they can make a lot of money, and they’re here because of where we are centrally located in the U.S. with the highways and our proximity to Mexico, and they’ve been here a long time,” Bond said. “A lot of people are involved with this.”
Police said that the investigation remains ongoing and that they couldn’t comment on the number of arrests that have been made as many remain pending.
The seizures come just months after the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office broke its previous record earlier in the year when law enforcement officers confiscated over 400 pounds of liquid methamphetamine.
Special Agent in Charge for the DEA Dallas Division Eduardo Chavez said that meth is the No.1 illicit drug threat in the North Texas region.
“This seizure here, in addition to the over 15,000 pounds of methamphetamine seized over the last 12 months in this area, represent 99% pure methamphetamine for a drug user that is putting 99% pure poison in their bodies,” Chavez said. [Our investigators] will hold these criminal organizations accountable. Our lives depend on it. Our family and friends’ lives depend on it and our community deserves it.”
Several additional investigations remain ongoing.
This story was originally published November 11, 2021 at 12:21 PM.
