PLAINFIELD, Ind. — Plainfield Police announced a substantial fentanyl drug bust Monday and issued a warning, calling it a "very serious, addictive and deadly drug" that the police department has seen firsthand destroy families and communities.
The Plainfield Police Department said Officer Michael Murray was near the intersection of Perry Road and State Road 267, which is just north of Interstate 70, early in the morning on Wednesday, May 4.
Just before 2:30 a.m., Murray saw a black Dodge passenger car pull out of a business in the area and violate several traffic laws. That's when police said Murray pulled the car over to speak with the driver and passenger.
The police department said Murray saw a gun and suspected narcotics being in the car. A second officer was called for backup and both people in the car were asked to get out.
When officers searched the car, they found 6.5 pounds of suspected fentanyl pills, two guns and what police described as "a large amount" of money.
The owner of the car, who wasn't named by police, was arrested and charged with narcotics-related offenses, police said.
Plainfield Police are praising Murray for "his diligence in getting this extremely dangerous drug" off the streets.
The police department called this drug bust a "huge win" for the community and local police and emphasized how dangerous fentanyl is.
"Fentanyl is a very serious, addictive, and deadly drug. It disrupts families and can end lives. We share this because our agency has seen firsthand the destruction this drug and many others have on our communities," the police department said in a Facebook post.
And Plainfield Police isn't alone in this fight against fentanyl.
Police agencies across the state say fentanyl is flooding Indiana and killing Hoosiers at record rates.
"We're seizing thousands of pills all over the entire state," said Michael Gannon, DEA Indianapolis Special Agent In Charge.
Gannon said Marion County had 641 fentanyl deaths in 2021 — more than all overdose deaths the year before.
Johnson County's coroner reports 95% of their overdose deaths involve fentanyl.
In Madison County, the coroner said they had 42 fentanyl deaths in 2021. They're already at 20 this year and had two, back-to-back, on May 3, one day before police in Plainfield seized 6.5 pounds of the drug.
The DEA and state police agencies are also warning of carfentanil, an even deadlier poison that's essentially an elephant tranquilizer.
It's especially dangerous because the drug — which is 100 times more potent than fentanyl — can kill in an instant.
