(CNN) Authorities arrested 35 people and seized enough fentanyl to kill roughly 14 million people in a three-state drug bust announced on Thursday by the US Justice Department.

The alleged drug trafficking ring is an example of fentanyl coming to the US from China, said US Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger of the Eastern District of Virginia.

"The illicit fentanyl that's coming in, the vast majority is from China and a lot of it is coming in through the mails," he said at a press conference announcing the arrests.

At least one suspect ordered fentanyl from a vendor in Shanghai that was successfully mailed through US Postal Service to Newport News, Virginia, according to the indictment.

"The last thing we want is for the US Postal Service to become the nation's largest drug dealer and there are people way above my pay grade working on that, but absolutely it's about putting pressure on the Chinese," Terwilliger said.

Read More