Ohio law enforcement agencies have revealed a huge drugs bust in which over 20 kilograms (44lbs) of suspected fentanyl, an addictive opioid more dangerous than heroin, was seized along with $30,000 cash and three guns.

“Twenty kilograms of fentanyl is enough to kill the entire population of Ohio, many times over,” said Vance Callender, Homeland Security Investigations special agent in charge for Michigan and Ohio.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost described the quantity of fentanyl involved in the case as amounting “to chemical warfare and a weapon of mass destruction,” and thanked all of the officers and agencies involved.

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Three men, all aged in their 30s and from Dayton, were arrested in connection with the bust and are facing drug and firearm charges. The drugs were seized during the week of October 21, 2019 but the operation has only now been revealed by authorities.

According to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control, two out of three overdose deaths in America involve an opioid, and the number of opioid-related deaths has increased nearly six times in the two decades to 2019.

In 2017 alone, opioid overdoses killed over 47,000 people in the US.

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