Drug kingpin convicted for distributing pills that fuelled US opioid epidemic

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A man was convicted in Utah, in the United States (US), of running a multimillion-dollar opioid ring that was responsible for distributing hundreds of thousands of potentially deadly pills across the US.

Authorities revealed, too, that the pills helped fuel the nation’s opioid epidemic.

Aaron Shamo, 29, was found guilty of running a criminal enterprise after a jury deliberated for nearly eight hours.

The conviction carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

“He’s 29 and his life is over,” said his attorney Greg Skordas.

“I don’t know if any of this has come to him yet.”

Prosecutors said Shamo was the kingpin behind the ring that peddled fake prescription pills laced with fentanyl — a drug that authorities say can be deadly with just a few flakes — to thousands of people.

The case offered a glimpse into how fentanyl, which has killed tens of thousands of Americans during the opioid epidemic, can be imported from China, pressed into fake pills and sold through online black markets to people in every state.

Authorities say Sharmo’s 2016 arrest at his suburban Salt Lake City home ranked among the largest in the country at the time.

Shamo was convicted of 12 counts, including drug distribution and money laundering.

The jury deadlocked and made no finding on a charge that Shamo sold the drugs that caused the overdose death of a 21-year-old California man.

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