The Drug Enforcement Administration agents served hundreds of search and arrest warrants in at least 25 states on Wednesday as part of a national crackdown on synthetic manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers, the Associated Press reported.
Homes, warehouses and smoke shops were served warrants by agents beginning early morning, DEA spokesman Rusty Payne said.
With Alabama requiring the largest single operation effort, Florida and New Mexico were among other states that were actively served, Reuters reported.
A DEA official confirmed to Reuters that the agency is involved in an operation targeting synthetic drugs.
Since the drugs first gained widespread popularity years ago, the DEA has been cracking down on synthetic drugs, including so-called bath salts, spice and Molly.
"In late 2010, the agency responsible for enforcing federal drug laws moved to ban five chemicals used to make synthetic marijuana blends, including K2, Spice and Blaze," the AP reported. "Since then, drug manufacturers have continued to modify their formulas and develop new chemical mixtures."
The agency is now broadly focused on Chinese chemical manufacturers and the distributors, wholesalers and retailers in the United States, Ferdinand Large, staff coordinator for DEA's Special Operations Division, said.
The destination of the money is also a growing concern.
Hundreds of millions of dollars in drug proceeds being sent to Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan have been tracked by investigators, Large said.
"The money is going there, where it stops we don't know," Large said. Large said it's also unclear which criminal organizations may be profiting from the drug proceeds.
U.S. authorities long have worried about criminal and terrorist groups in the Middle East using drug trafficking to fund illicit activities, according to the AP.
"DEA must relentlessly purse these dangerous individuals and criminal groups that attempt to use drug trafficking profits to fuel and fund terror networks, such as Hezbollah," Leonhart said.
