Hennepin County Sheriff's Office makes major fentanyl bust in south Minneapolis

Investigators seized a deadly amount of fentanyl and other drugs during a raid earlier this week in south Minneapolis.

There was enough fentanyl powder and pills to kill tens of thousands of people, according to the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office. Also seized were several weapons and various other drugs.

The discovery was made when detectives with the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office executed a search warrant, Sheriff Dawanna Witt announced Friday.

Authorities arrested Tamul L. Golden, 41, on gun and drugs charges. He had been a target of an ongoing narcotics and weapons investigation, according to the Sheriff's Office. Four other people at the address were detained but not arrested.

The seizure included five pounds of powder fentanyl and 1,295 fentanyl pills, along with one pound of cocaine, one pound of methamphetamine and a press used to package narcotics for distribution. Six handguns and one rifle, all illegally possessed, also were seized.

Witt said fentanyl can be more or less deadly depending on the potency of the powder and a person's tolerance. However, even with those considerations, this week's drug bust was a sizeable amount of dangerous narcotics, she said.

"These drugs are killing our citizens on a daily basis," she said.

Golden was in the upstairs apartment at 3015 Aldrich Av. S., when authorities executed the search warrant at that address Wednesday morning. The drugs were found in a tool bag in an upstairs crawl space. Two bags of drugs were found near an upstairs bed, along with a loaded Beretta firearm.

Golden was booked into Hennepin County jail. He faces charges on felony firearms violations and three counts of first-degree drug sales, the Sheriff's Office reported. His next court date was set for March 7.