SAN ANTONIO – After a two-year investigation, federal investigators have shut down a drug ring in San Antonio that reportedly put thousands of potentially deadly fake prescription pills, laced with fentanyl, on the streets.
Federal authorities arrested eight men and shut down a lab the drug ring reportedly moved from a home in a quiet Northwest side neighborhood to another home in suburban Houston.
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The ring was allegedly led by an Iraqi immigrant who served as an interpreter for U.S. military forces, Alaa Mohammed Allawi, 28.
Another man, Benjamin Uno, 25, is also accused of having a big role in the drug ring.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said the group allegedly manufactured pain and anxiety pills, laced with fentanyl or other drugs, using commercial pill presses they got from China.
Officials believe they also got the fentanyl from China.
The drug ring would then sell the drugs on the streets and on the internet.
The pills were first seen in December 2015 by UTSA police and SAPD, on the school's campus and on the streets.
Through the use of wiretaps, DEA investigators listened to the ring members discuss their business, including when they decided to move their lab from the home Allawi owned in the 13100 block of Regency Bend to a house he rented in Richmond near Houston.
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DEA agents moved in on the Richmond lab in mid-May 2017 and they seized a long list of items, including half a kilogram of powdered fentanyl, 10 kilos of oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl, half a kilo of crystal meth, 5 kilos of Adderall pills laced with meth, 6 kilos of Xanax pills laced with meth, four commercial pill press machines, three handguns and a semiautomatic rifle.
DEA agents also seized 120 packages of delivery-ready pills, and with the help of the U.S. Postal Service, at least 70 packages were intercepted. But thousands of orders had already been filled before the ring was shut down.
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In June, a federal grand jury indicted Allawi, Uno and six other men -- two have been identified as Jason Saucedo and Trevor Robinson. All of the men have pleaded not guilty.
One of the eight men has bonded out; the others remain in federal custody, including Allawi and Uno.
A trial date has been set for Nov. 13.