A small city in Alabama has become a “hot spot” for drugs, and police are determined to take back the community.

“The vast majority of these men and women grew up there,” Lou Valoze, a retired agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), told Fox News Digital.

“These are residents who are joining this fight to protect their community, the community that they live in, the community that their children are growing up in, the community that their friends are in,” Valoze said. “This is very personal for them. What they do is probably the most dangerous and most difficult aspect of law enforcement, which is undercover work, because it’s the most effective tool in combating illegal drugs, illegal weapons and human trafficking.”

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Lou Valoze, right, speaks with Sgt. Garett Pesnell of the Oxford Police Department. (Courtesy of Investigative Discovery)

Valoze is leading a new series on Investigation Discovery (ID) titled “Operation Undercover.” The program takes viewers into “real-life undercover operations conducted by police to keep communities across the country safe.” It includes exclusive footage of undercover operations targeting arms dealers, drug suppliers and human traffickers, among others.

The first episode will be released on November 12. focuses on Oxford, Alabama, A town located just off Highway 20 from Atlanta to Birmingham. The site attracted the attention of researchers due to the high activity of fentanyl, an opioid that can be 50 times more potent than the same amount of heroin. According to the department, it has become the drug of choice for smugglers.

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The Oxford Police Department is preparing to execute a raid and search warrant. (Courtesy of Investigative Discovery)

“It is produced and made in these super laboratories… they are mostly in mexico and they’re brought to the border,” Valoze explained. “It’s very cheap to make and can be produced in large quantities. It’s very powerful. You only need a little bit for desired results. “Whether it’s pure fentanyl or mixed with other drugs, they can get it out of there and make it available everywhere and make it very cheap.”

The Oxford Police Department seized evidence from a raid and search warrant. (Courtesy of Investigative Discovery)

“You have this combination of availability and affordability, which is why it’s spreading and unfortunately we’re seeing deaths every day,” Valoze said. he added.

Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids produced in a laboratory triggering an overdose crisis Deadlier than any event the United States has ever seen. Overdoses from all drugs killed more than 100,000 people for the first time in 2021, with deaths remaining nearly flat in 2022; More than gun and automobile deaths combined.

Lou Valoze initially pursued a career in banking. However, an encounter with an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent inspired him to join the Justice Department, leading to a 25-year stint undercover. (Courtesy of Investigative Discovery)

The federal government counted more accidental overdose deaths in 2021 alone than in the 20-year period from 1979 to 1998. Overdoses have been much more frequent in recent years than they were during the black tar heroin epidemic that led to former President Richard Nixon. To start the “War on Drugs” or during the cocaine crisis of the 1980s.

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A photograph of Makayla Cox, who died of a fentanyl overdose at age 16, is displayed among other portraits at the Drug Enforcement Administration headquarters in Arlington on the “Faces of Fentanyl” wall, which displays photos of Americans who have died from fentanyl overdoses. , Virginia, July 13, 2022. (AGNES BUN/AFP via Getty Images)

Experts believe deaths are increasing not only because the drugs are so powerful, but also because fentanyl is mixed with many other illegal drugs.

Still, advocates warned that some of the alarms sounded by politicians and officials were false and potentially dangerous.

Lou Valoze praised the Oxford Police Department for its “impressive” efforts in fighting drugs in their town. (Courtesy of Investigative Discovery)

These ideas include that tightening control at the US-Mexico border would stem the flow of drugs; But experts say the key to curbing the crisis is to reduce drug demand; that fentanyl could be found in children’s trick-or-treat baskets on Halloween; and it turns out that even a brief touch of the drug can be fatal, and researchers don’t think that’s true.

Lou Valoze speaks with members of the Oxford Police Department. In his 25-year career as an undercover agent, Valoze faced the Chicago mob, outlaw biker gangs and domestic terrorists. (Courtesy of Investigative Discovery)

Advocates have expressed concern that this information could cause first responders to hesitate to give life-saving treatment.

The first episode of “Operation Undercover” specifically details the connection between Mexico and Oxford.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has warned that fentanyl is sold in multicolored pills and powders (sometimes referred to as “rainbow fentanyl”) that are marketed to teens and young adults on social media. (Courtesy of Investigative Discovery)

“It’s the same connection as in almost every small town in the country,” Valoze said. “The cartels are very businesslike. They run their organization the same way a Fortune 500 company runs their organization. They have major distribution points in the Southeast.”

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A 2022 report by a bipartisan federal commission found that fentanyl and similar drugs were produced mostly in laboratories in Mexico, primarily from chemicals shipped from China. (Courtesy of Investigative Discovery)

“Atlanta is an important distribution point” shared. “Obviously Miami is a big distribution point. And what they’re doing is creating territories for their distribution. That’s going down like any other business.”

Drug dealers are likely to develop “zones” in cities connected to major highways for quicker access, Valoze said. He noted that Oxford is “pretty much right in the middle” of Highway 20.

According to “Operation Undercover,” drug dealers coveted Oxford, Alabama, because of its accessibility to Highway 20. (Courtesy of Investigative Discovery)

“The police are doing what they can through the highway ban, but it’s not enough,” he said. “(But) the Oxford Police Department has become proactive. A lot of drug activity and a lot of … sex trafficking … is happening in hotels just off the highway.”

The Oxford Police Department and Lou Valoze are on the scene of a raid and search warrant. (Courtesy of Investigative Discovery)

“They’re proactively going out there using informants, using undercover officers to combat this problem, and they’re getting great results.”

During the shooting, Valoze said he was impressed with how successfully the Oxford Police Department handled their investigation.

Lou Valoze (left) talks with Sgt. Garett Pesnell of the Oxford Police Department. (Courtesy of Investigative Discovery)

“I come from a federal background where we have a lot of resources,” he said. “A lot of times when you go to a small city, they don’t have the same resources… but they were behaving the same way we feds do.

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Across the country, fentanyl is mixed with drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine, sometimes with fatal consequences. In some cases, it is mixed with other substances in Mexico or the United States and made into pills to resemble other drugs. (Courtesy of Investigative Discovery)

“… They were doing their homework through intelligence gathering and surveillance. They knew exactly who they were going up against, and they were working with other departments, task forces in that area. They would send an agent or an undercover officer into a dangerous situation to make a deal. The deck was in their favor.” opens.”

Police in small communities across the United States are grappling with deadly drugs being shipped across the border. (Courtesy of Investigative Discovery)

“They spent weeks spying on these people… knowing where they slept, what their habits were, what they did,” Valoze continued. “That makes it as safe as possible to do a collusion when you have all this intelligence… And on the other hand, when it came time to take these people down, their preparation was extraordinary. The SWAT teams, their intelligence and the surveillance they did before executing these arrest warrants was very important to me.” It was impressive.”

A wrong perception in the public about undercover investigationsValoze emphasized that this was “unfair to one side.”

Lou Valoze, middle, meets with Capt. Josh Miller and Sgt. Brad Young, left, with the Oxford Police Department. (Courtesy of Investigative Discovery)

“The reality of the situation is that people are dying,” he said. “Whether it’s fentanyl overdoses, heroin overdoses, gun violence, human slavery through human trafficking and sex trafficking, people are harmed… The goal of these undercover investigations is to save lives and make society safer.”

Lou Valoze (left) meets with Capt. Josh Miller of the Oxford Police Department. (Courtesy of Investigative Discovery)

“There’s no fame or fortune involved,” thought Valoze. “There’s not a lot of praise. These are undercover officers, male and female, doing all of this to make society safer.

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“I think when you watch ‘Operation Undercover’ you’ll appreciate what they do and why they do it. You’ll truly understand why these undercover operations are necessary to keep communities safe.”