WEST BABYLON, N.Y. (AP) - Federal investigators have raided a Long Island house they say was used in a pill mill operation that produced the powerful narcotic fentanyl.
Police arrested a 31-year-old North Babylon man and a 44-year-old Deer Park man Wednesday after searching the garage of a West Babylon home. Both men have been charged with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl.
Authorities say the pair used a pill-pressing machine to make fentanyl tablets that resembled the painkiller oxycodone. Officials say fentanyl is about 50 times more potent than other drugs such as heroin and oxycodone.
The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration in New York, James Hunt, says fentanyl is easier to illegally obtain compared to oxycodone because of stricter pharmaceutical regulations. Hunt says the fake oxycodone pills are becoming increasingly popular around the country.
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