Authorities make massive drug, gun bust; enough fentanyl ‘to kill tens of thousands of people’
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The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office has made an arrest in connection with a massive drug and weapons seizure.
Friday, the department said its Violent Offender Task Force and Emergency Services Unit executed a search warrant at a home near the South Uptown area of Minneapolis and seized more than five pounds of powder fentanyl, 1,295 fentanyl pills, over 50 grams of marijuana and more than a pound each of cocaine and meth. Tamul Lavelle Golden, 41, has since been charged with three counts of first-degree drug sale and one count of illegal gun possession.
Golden has a previous felony conviction, which bars him from possessing firearms and ammunition. The majority of drugs were found in a crawlspace of the attic.
Additionally, the sheriff’s office says six handguns and a rifle — all of which were illegally possessed — were recovered, and a large press for packing and distributing the drugs was also found, which authorities say indicate an intent to sell.
“Getting drugs and illegal weapons off the streets is always an accomplishment for public safety,” Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt said in a statement. “A seizure of this amount of fentanyl though, is really a success for public health as much as it is for public safety. There’s an intersection between public safety and public health that should not be underestimated.”
Golden made his first court appearance Friday and the judge set his bail at $500,000 with conditions or $1 million without conditions. His next court appearance is set for March 7.
