Officers raided a home and arrested three people allegedly involved in a fentanyl operation that authorities believe could churn out 20,000 fentanyl pills a day.   

Denver’s narcotics unit began investigating the alleged operation earlier this year. After several months, the Denver police, Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration launched a joint operation and obtained a search warrant for a home in Aurora on May 1, according to a news release.

When officers searched the home located in the 1800 block of South Olathe Street in Aurora, they found five pill-making presses, other pill-related equipment, suspected fentanyl and other narcotics and firearms, authorities said.

Investigators believe the operation was capable of making nearly 20,000 fentanyl pills per day, though the actual number produced is unknown. 

Three children, all four-years-old or younger, were also found within the home. One later tested positive for fentanyl exposure. 

Over nine weeks, detectives and crime laboratory personnel continued forensic examination of recovered evidence, eventually leading to the arrest of 33-year-old Tashon Roberts, 34-year-old Coleman Phillips and 28-year-old Imani Hale.

Both Roberts and Phillips were arrested during a search for unrelated outstanding warrants, the department said.

Each suspect was arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to sell, unlawful manufacturing of a controlled substance, child abuse and more.

The seizure comes weeks after the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Rocky Mountain Field Division seized around 570,000 fentanyl pills in separate operations over a seven-day period — making up 22% of the 2.61 million fentanyl pills seized by the agency in the entirety of Colorado in the 2023 fiscal year, a state record at the time.

Of the 598 deaths in Denver involving drugs last year, 389 resulted from fentanyl ingestion, city data showed.

“The warning ‘One Pill Can Kill’ is absolutely true, and the dismantling of this fentanyl pill-making operation has potentially saved lives by ending a significant supply of fentanyl pills into our community,” Denver Chief of Police Ron Thomas said in the news release. “Our investigators did an incredible job uncovering the operation and those behind it, and we will continue aggressively pursuing anyone manufacturing or dealing illicit narcotics in Denver.”