The Maine Drug Enforcement Agency (MDEA) arrested Abdirahman A. Abdullahi, 26, of Portland, during a drug bust on Wednesday, seizing enough fentanyl to kill over 260,000 people along with significant amounts of cocaine base.
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The MDEA Cumberland District Task Force and the Portland Police Department’s Crime Reduction Unit (CRU) stopped a Ford Escort on Portland’s Ocean Avenue.
Law enforcement officials had been watching the driver, Abdullahi, as part of an investigation into a drug trafficking operation across the Greater Portland area.
Officers arrested Abdullahi without incident and found him allegedly in possession of 72 grams of fentanyl and 63 grams of cocaine base, all packaged for resale.
After the arrest, MDEA agents secured a search warrant for Abdullahi’s home at 48 Elmwood Street, Portland, where they allegedly discovered nearly a full pound of fentanyl, 187 grams of cocaine and cocaine base, drug paraphernalia, three firearms, and $3,000 in cash.
Abdullahi faces charges of Aggravated Trafficking in Schedule W Drugs, Class A, and Trafficking in Schedule W Drugs, Class B.
This is not his first encounter with the law on drug trafficking charges. He was convicted in 2022 for drug trafficking and falsifying evidence. He appealed that conviction in an appeals process that went all the way up to the Maine Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that his initial conviction ought to be upheld. It is unclear why Abdullahi was free so soon after that ruling to allegedly traffic drugs across Southern Maine again.
