Authorities bust drug manufacturing operation suspected of producing fentanyl

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Authorities said they have disrupted a pill manufacturing operation that made and sold suspected fentanyl.

And the number of counterfeit tablets seized is staggering-- approximately 50,000.

Working tip information, the multi-jurisdictional Cherokee Narcotics Squad searched two locations allegedly operated by Fred Michelsen and his wife Elizabeth.

Commander Phil Price said the couple had the business for years. The tablets that were confiscated resembled legal narcotics.

The husband and wife are in the Cherokee County Jail under no bond. Each has been charged with trafficking.

The compound fentanyl is especially worrisome to law enforcement because it has been linked to overdose deaths.