Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday slammed “easy bail for criminals” after the suspects accused of running a major fentanyl lab in Houston were released on bond a day after their arrest.
“This is outrageous,” Abbott said on Twitter, sharing news that four suspects arrested in a Houston drug bust had been released on bond by a judge.
The drug bust occurred on Jan. 30 and was executed by the Criminal Investigations Division (CID) of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) under Abbott’s Operation Lone Star border security program.
DPS CID Special Agents raided a small rental car facility and found three pill press machines, 17 pounds of fentanyl precursors, one kilo of counterfeit Xanax pills with suspected fentanyl, two kilos of cocaine, 44 pounds of marijuana, multiple stolen guns and a stolen car.
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“They were putting together fentanyl and meth into pills, with the intention of getting that into the community,” Texas DPS Lt. Craig Cummings told Fox 26 Houston.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is extremely lethal even in small doses. Officials have said that of the 108,000 overdose deaths in 2021, more than 80,000 were linked with opioids like fentanyl.
Fentanyl is primarily made in Mexico using Chinese precursors and smuggled across the land border. Fentanyl seizures have shot up at ports of entry in the last few years, which officials cite as a success due to the drug being apprehended rather than allowed into the U.S. More than 14,000 pounds were seized at the southern border in FY 2022 after more than 10,000 in FY 2021.
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“[Fentanyl] is a crisis in Texas,” Cummings said. “We’re seeing fentanyl come across the border and going out. Someone might have no idea that what they’re taking is not a pill from a friend, but a pill that contains fentanyl.”
“If we can get these drugs off the street, it’s going to make our community safer,” he told Fox 26.
The fentanyl lab’s operations are currently under investigation, but the four suspects arrested on Jan. 30 bonded out of jail the next day, infuriating Abbott.
“Texas officers broke up a major Houston fentanyl operation that could have killed thousands of people. But a day after 4 suspects were arrested, they were released on bond by a Houston Judge,” Abbott tweeted. “We must end easy bail for criminals.”
Fox News’ Adam Shaw and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
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