Florida authorities seized 92,000 pounds of a synthetic opioid that's 13 times more potent than morphine.
They also found enough firepower to start a war.
And a Florida Sheriff just shut down an operation that made Breaking Bad look like a lemonade stand.
Florida's 7-OH Problem Just Got Real
When Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier issued an emergency ban on 7-hydroxymitragynine in August, he warned the concentrated kratom byproduct was "an immediate danger to the public."¹
Turns out he wasn't exaggerating.
Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey announced Wednesday that authorities seized approximately 92,000 pounds of 7-OH from a Palm Bay warehouse — the largest bust of its kind in the nation with a street value of $4.7 million.²
"This thing looked like 'Breaking Bad' on steroids," Ivey said while standing behind tables stacked with military-grade weapons and boxes containing thousands of pounds of the illegal substance.³
The operation belongs to 26-year-old Maxwell Horvath, who ran his extraction business under the name Overseas Organics.
But the drugs were just the beginning.
Armed to the Teeth With Military Hardware
When federal agents raided Horvath's facility after a months-long investigation that began in September, they discovered an arsenal that would make most militia groups jealous.
Five improvised explosive devices.
Twelve rifles, seventeen pistols, three shotguns.
Two fully automatic submachine guns.
A short-barreled rifle and revolver.
Three suppressors, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and grenade simulators.
Fifty pounds of precursor chemicals to manufacture explosives.
And a .50 caliber firearm mounted on a tripod — the kind of weapon designed to penetrate armored vehicles.
"We're not just talking about drugs," Palm Bay Police Chief Mariano Augello explained. "We're talking about explosive devices, things that the military are utilizing and other countries are utilizing all over the world, to take out populations of people."⁴
https://twitter.com/DrugFreeDuval/status/1996927980422254915?s=20
The guy was either preparing for war or arming those who were.
Here's what makes this story even more disturbing.
Horvath is a convicted felon who served two years in federal prison back in 2017 for possession of an explosive device and trafficking MDMA.⁵
He wasn't supposed to own a single firearm, much less build an armory.
"At 26 years old, he is already pretty much a career offender," Augello stated. "He has no regard for the sanctity of life."⁶
Trump's War on Deadly Substances Scores Major Victory
This bust represents exactly the kind of domestic threat President Trump has been warning about since taking office.
The Trump Administration designated drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations earlier this year, giving law enforcement enhanced tools to dismantle operations like Horvath's.
Florida moved quickly after the FDA recommended scheduling 7-OH as a controlled substance in July.
Uthmeier's emergency rule banned concentrated 7-OH in August, classifying it alongside heroin, LSD, and fentanyl as a Schedule I substance with high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use.⁷
https://twitter.com/AGJamesUthmeier/status/1996595461021475307?s=20
The compound acts on the same brain receptors as opioids and can be more potent than morphine.
FDA Commissioner Marty Makary called 7-OH "the fourth wave of the opioid epidemic" and praised Florida for leading the nation in restricting access to the dangerous substance.⁸
This wasn't some small-time dealer peddling pills on a street corner.
Horvath ran an industrial-scale extraction operation with sterile environments, compression machines, and sophisticated processing equipment — proudly giving undercover agents tours of his facility during controlled buys.
He bragged that shipping products out of state would circumvent Florida law.
Sheriff Ivey had a reality check for him.
"Trick or treat, he is," Ivey said about Horvath's belief he could skirt the law.⁹
Horvath currently faces at least 36 counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, two counts of possession of a short-barreled machine gun, possession of a short-barreled rifle, and additional charges for the explosive devices.
More federal indictments are pending.
"Those indictments will make sure that he spends the rest of his life right where he deserves, and that's in prison," Ivey declared.¹⁰
The Trump Administration's designation of cartels as terrorist organizations and Florida's swift action to ban 7-OH created the legal framework to take down this operation before it claimed lives.
How many other operations like this are running in states that haven't acted as decisively as Florida?
¹ Attorney General James Uthmeier, "Emergency Rule Immediately Removing Dangerous 7-OH from Store Shelves," My Florida Legal, August 13, 2025.
² Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey, Facebook announcement, December 4, 2025.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Police Chief Mariano Augello, quoted in Frank Kopylov, "Brevard County authorities seize 92,000 pounds of illegal kratom," Florida Today, December 4, 2025.
⁵ Ibid.
⁶ Ibid.
⁷ "Florida AG issues emergency rule banning kratom compound," Florida Phoenix, August 14, 2025.
⁸ FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, quoted in "Florida banning 7-OH kratom products," WFLA, August 14, 2025.
⁹ Sheriff Wayne Ivey, Facebook video, December 4, 2025.
¹⁰ Ibid.
