Arkansas drug task force leads to 1,000 arrests, $55M in drugs seized

Tablets believed to be laced with fentanyl are displayed at the Drug Enforcement Administration Northeast Regional Laboratory on October 8, 2019 in New York.…

Tablets believed to be laced with fentanyl are displayed at the Drug Enforcement Administration Northeast Regional Laboratory on October 8, 2019 in New York. – According to US government data, about 32,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses in 2018. That accounts for 46 percent of all fatal overdoses. Fentanyl, a powerful painkiller approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for a range of conditions, has been central to the American opioid crisis which began in the late 1990s. (Photo by Don EMMERT / AFP) (Photo by DON EMMERT/AFP via Getty Images)

by: Jacob Smith

Posted: Feb 9, 2023 / 12:57 PM CST

Updated: Feb 10, 2023 / 03:32 PM CST

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — An Arkansas drug task force has led to approximately 1,000+ arrests and $55 million worth of drugs seized, a new report revealed on Thursday.

Since November, drug task force officers across the state have joined together to rid drugs from local communities through “Operation Task Force Arkansas” which, on Jan. 25, was revealed to have led to more than 1,200 arrests, confiscation of hundreds of firearms, and more than $55 million worth of fentanyl, meth, cocaine, opioid pills, and other drugs.

“This is a new day in Arkansas,” said Arkansas Drug Director Boyce Hamlet, “We are grateful to our drug task force agents and commanders for their cooperation and leadership. If you are a person that deals fentanyl and opioids in our communities, to our families, and around our children you need to understand the old way of doing business is over.”

According to the report, all 18 operational Drug Task Force units in Arkansas ended the three-month focus with the three-day intense warrants sweep serving 300 total warrants. In the three days, officers were able to confiscate 122 grams of fentanyl, 6,572 grams of meth, 500 prescription pills, 500 counterfeit pills (mostly fentanyl), 79 firearms, and 256 arrests.

In 2023, so far officers have totaled 522 arrests, more than 1.5 million grams of drugs (including 609 grams of fentanyl and nearly 60,000 grams of methamphetamine), and nearly 23,000 pills, all at an estimated value of $21,852,048 in drug confiscations.

For information and treatment and recovery centers in Arkansas, where to dispose of medications, and more, visit www.artakeback.org.

On the website, the Arkansas Opioid Dashboard has a map of the state in which individuals can select counties to reveal each county’s own Opioid Dashboard, which contains information on Peer Recovery Specialists, drug and alcohol statistics, and more.