Inside a Methuen third-floor apartment, federal authorities this month said they discovered a pill press operation that manufactured counterfeit pharmaceutical pills containing fentanyl and methamphetamine.

A Lawrence man — Joshua Morales, 31 — is now charged in connection with the investigation targeting a drug manufacturing ring, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.

According to an affidavit penned by a Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent, on Aug. 28, investigators surveilled Morales at 18 Carleton Street in Methuen, a multi-family building known to authorities as somewhere drugs were reportedly being manufactured and distributed.

After Morales left the apartment, law enforcement followed him back to Lawrence, where they ultimately approached his parked car and detained h

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