Suffolk County authorities for the first time busted a drug-peddling ring whose dealers were trafficking carfentanil — a lethal synthetic opioid used to tranquilize elephants.
The narcotic is 10,000 times stronger than morphine and about 100 times stronger than fentanyl — and has already caused a string of overdose deaths in New York City, officials said.
A seven-month Long Island investigation recently led to the indictments of four people who “sold copious quantities of carfentanil, fentanyl and cocaine on numerous occasions,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney.
“As hard as it is to believe – Carfentanil is even more potent and more lethal than fentanyl,” the Long Island DA said in a press release last week. “The influx of this drug in Suffolk County is alarming and poses a clear and present danger to the public.”
Undercover cops, audio and video recordings and in-person surveillance helped build the case that led to search warrants and late-August raids on several different sites, Tierney said.
Four Long Island suspects were indicted as a result: John Sims, 40, of Freeport; Tyeisha Kisswani, 39, of Freeport; Robert Day, 65, of Hempstead, and Adrian Spooner, 36, of Bay Shore.
All four were hit with a litany of drug-sale and possession raps — and Sims, Kisswani and Day were each charged with two counts of conspiracy as well, Tierney added.
Sims also earned a pair of weapon-possession charges after cops allegedly found a loaded .357 revolver and a high-capacity magazine in the house he shared with Kissawni.
Sims was remanded after his Sept. 30 arraignment and will sit in jail until trial. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in prison.
Kisswani, who faces the same sentence, was immediately cut loose because her charges were not bail-eligible, Tierney said. She’s due back in court Nov. 13.
Spooner — who allegedly sold cocaine about a dozen times during the first seven months of the year — was released after posting a court-mandated $200,000 bond, the DA said.
He faces 14 years in prison, and is due back in court Nov. 6.
Get all the stories that move New York to your inbox
Sign up for our Metro Daily newsletter!
Thanks for signing up!
“We have entered a plea of not guilty and look forward to reviewing all the discovery and vigorously defending Mr. Spooner in the courtroom,” Spooner’s lawyer, Robert Macedonio, said in a Sunday email.
Day is still on the lam, and police are asking anyone with information about him to call the Suffolk County Police Department or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.
In early July, Sims and Day sold more than a half-ounce of fentanyl on two different occasions — and Sims partnered with Kisswani to sell cocaine several times between January and June, Tierney said.
Two months ago, Sims also sold more than a half-ounce of carfentanil to an undercover officer, the DA added.
The powerful sedative can be lethal in doses as tiny as two milligrams.
And it has already hit New York City, where seven people fatally overdosed during the first six months of the year, The Post reported in July.
Authorities have found that more than a half-dozen samples of illicit drugs taken from The Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan had traces of the deadly substance.
Law enforcement has also made about 35 busts that involve the drug between November and May, according to the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s office.
“Considering that carfentanil is 100 times stronger than fentanyl, and the enormous number of lives fentanyl has claimed in our city, the mere presence of carfentanil in our drug supply is a matter of deep concern,” the Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan told The Post.
