The Department of Justice on Friday announced the arrests of nearly 200 suspected drug traffickers in 10 states.
"These cases represent just a fraction of the work our agents and prosecutors are doing every day to target, disrupt, and dismantle the cartels and drug trafficking organizations that are poisoning the American people," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a press release.
The investigation and prosecution of the cases are part of the DOJ's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, which aims to "identify, disrupt, and dismantle the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks," according to the DOJ.
Arrests were made in the Eastern, Southern, and Midwest regions of the U.S. and throughout Alaska.
"Every year, tens of thousands of Americans die from illicit drugs trafficked into our communities, including fentanyl and other synthetic opioids," Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in the release.
"This wave of indictments and arrests — stretching from Alaska to Mississippi and from Nebraska to West Virginia — shows the reach of the Justice Department and our partners across the country and around the world when it comes to disrupting narcotics trafficking."