About 3 1/2 pounds of suspected fentanyl powder, more than 1,300 suspected fentanyl pills and other suspected narcotics were among the drugs seized when a search warrant was executed in Paterson recently. The drugs have a street value of almost $1 million, according to the state attorney general’s office and the suspect, Pedro Rodriguez Avalo, who was arrested and charged on June 27, is alleged to have been distributing drugs in bulk. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, fentanyl is approximately 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin. Two milligrams are considered a lethal dose. Rodriguez allegedly had over 800,000 such doses of fentanyl.

This was the third takedown of a major drug distribution operation in Paterson in the past three months, since the state takeover of the Paterson Police Department on March 27, according to the attorney general’s office. Three weeks previously a man was arrested on drug possession charges and $100,000 worth of narcotics were seized in connection with an alleged drug distribution scheme. In April, state and local law enforcement seized drugs worth an estimated $1.6 million during an unrelated investigation.