SEATTLE — Over a dozen people have been arrested as a result of a two-year operation targeting an interstate fentanyl trafficking ring.
For two years, the Seattle Police Department, Drug Enforcement Agency and FBI have been looking into the Jackson drug trafficking organization, which resulted in 14 arrests on indictments and criminal complaints over the last couple of days, according to U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington Tessa Gorman.
The ring is allegedly linked to a fatal overdose on the Lummi Nation reservation in Whatcom County. Last year four people died of fentanyl overdoses on the reservation within four days. Tribal and federal partners examined the phone of one of the overdose victims and found connections to the Jackson drug trafficking organization. The ring is accused of deliberately targeting Native communities in both Washington and Montana.
"There's not a community I visit that does not talk about the devastation that fentanyl has done to their communities," Gorman said. "This poison has harmed their children, their families, and their communities - and nowhere is that more felt than our Native communities."
The drug ring was allegedly led by a 31-year-old Renton man who ran the organization with the help of his parents and siblings. Markell Jackson, 21, is a fugitive being sought by law enforcement for his involvement with the drug trafficking ring. The family faces various charges for conspiracy, including drug trafficking and money laundering and has alleged ties to a Seattle area street gang, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The family bought fentanyl in bulk from Arizona and distributed it in several states. Law enforcement in Georgia, Missouri, Texas and Arizona also executed search warrants and some arrests related to the trafficking ring.
Throughout the investigation, law enforcement seized nearly 850,000 fentanyl pills, nearly seven kilograms of fentanyl powder, seven kilograms of cocaine, 29 firearms and more than $100,000 in cash.