A garage-turned-“lab” in East Haven equipped with 2,000-pound pill-pressing machines churned out two million synthetic opioid pills containing ingredients more potent than even fentanyl — and now sits at the center of Connecticut’s largest ever clandestine drug manufacturing bust.
The news of that drug operation and seven related arrests was announced at a Monday morning press conference held by the U.S. Attorney’s office. The presser was held in an office on the 25th floor of 157 Church St.
Law enforcement officials on Monday described a complex system led by a 45-year-old New Havener, where counterfeit pills produced in that East Haven garage were sold as oxycodone, Xanax, and Adderall but contained methamphetamine, protonitazene, dimethylpentylone, xylazine, and other substances. (Protonitazene is a synthetic opioid three times as potent as fentanyl.)…