CRIME BLOTTER

Burien Police, led by K9 Quinn, seize county’s largest-ever fentanyl powder bust

Nov 3, 2023, 3:42 PM | Updated: 5:24 pm

burien police fentanyl...

K9 Quinn posing in front of 95 pounds of methamphetamine and 41 pounds of fentanyl powder. (Photo courtesy of Burien Police)

(Photo courtesy of Burien Police)

Local detectives confiscated 95 pounds of methamphetamine and 41 pounds of fentanyl powder after making a traffic stop led by K9 Quinn in Burien last Friday.

King County sheriff’s detectives intercepted a suspected large-scale drug trafficker in Seattle’s Industrial District, leading to the agency’s largest-ever individual fentanyl powder bust.

“I can’t thank your detectives and K9 Quinn enough for their exceptional work in protecting our community,” the Burien Police Department said, according to The Burien Town Blog.

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In a separate previous operation, Burien officers seized 44 pounds of methamphetamine during the previous weekend in another traffic stop spearheaded by K9 Quinn and his K9 police unit. K9 Quinn indicated to his handler there was something illegal in the car. After acquiring a search warrant, police verified there was a whole lot of “something illegal” in the car and eventually uncovered 44.3 pounds of methamphetamine.

The combined street value of the drugs was an estimated $2.6 million.

“Sometimes people ask why we do interdiction stops,” Burien police stated according to The Burien Town Blog. “According to the DEA’s calculations, this amount of fentanyl powder has the potential to kill 10 million people. Think about the capacity for harm in this one shipment and you understand why we will never stop our balanced approach to this complex issue, both supporting our partners that work to reduce addiction and holding those who bring this poison into our community accountable for their criminal behavior.”

The figure for the suspected amount of fatalities came from calculations by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

The alleged drug trafficker, Bruno Moreno Camacho, was arrested Oct. 27 and faces two counts of violating the Uniform Controlled Substances Act and one count of conspiring to violate the same statute. Camacho, 27, is currently in jail with a $100,000 bail.

The investigation into Moreno, who is from Sinaloa, Mexico, began in September when detectives learned about him from a confidential informant, according to charging documents acquired by The Daily Chronicle. Once he was arrested, Moreno told detectives he was trafficking drugs for his boss in Mexico

Quinn is a former Purina Puppy Chow model who has been on Burien’s police force since last November. Quinn’s first bust occurred when he joined the tail end of a year-long investigation into a highly organized group of alleged drug distributors with family connections to Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel. Quinn helped uncover an estimated $2.5 million worth of crystal meth, fentanyl and black-tar heroin, according to The Seattle Times.

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Quinn’s tenure with the Burien Police Department also included being a part of Operation “Jade,” the Burien Town Blog explained during the summer. Operation “Jade” was a drug bust anchored by both the King County Sheriff’s Office and Burien Police that uncovered 290,000 M-30 and fentanyl pills, 9.5 pounds of fentanyl powder, one pound of cocaine, 5.7 pounds of heroin, $52,043 in cash and a stolen firearm.

Last month, Quinn led a traffic stop where police discovered the driver had 61,000 fentanyl tablets, 2.2 pounds of cocaine, 25 grams of heroin and a bulletproof vest in his possession.

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Burien Police, led by K9 Quinn, seize county’s largest-ever fentanyl powder bust