As Lyon County’s first significant fentanyl distribution case is currently on hold in court, the Drug Enforcement Agency’s St. Louis Division is reporting a sharp spike in fentanyl seizures from last year across its territory.
The DEA says the over 670 pounds of fentanyl seized across Kansas, Missouri and south Illinois in federal fiscal 2022 — October 2021 through this past September — shattered the prior record of almost 400 pounds set last year and was more than the nearly 580 pounds of fentanyl collected the past two years.
DEA Special Agent in Charge Michael Davis says law enforcement at all levels is increasing their efforts to stop fentanyl, but he also says “drug trafficking organizations will go to any length to profit from the misery of our citizens.”
The DEA statistic announcement comes with the Lyon County case against Terry Don Cummings on hold. Cummings was arrested early this year after a traffic stop on the Kansas Turnpike, allegedly with around 200 counterfeit oxycontin pills in his possession. Cummings failed to appear at a preliminary hearing in September and a second hearing last month, but information posted on the state’s court portal indicates Cummings was incarcerated elsewhere when those hearings were planned. No other hearings are currently listed.
The DEA has said counterfeit fentanyl-laced pills have been commonplace for over a year. Amounts that fit on a pencil tip, up to two milligrams, can be lethal.
