New York Attorney General Letitia James announced the takedown of a drug trafficking ring that she said distributed massive amounts of illegal drugs throughout the Hudson Valley and Capital Region.

"Take a look at what you see here, and think of the lives we’ve saved," Ulster Sheriff Juan Figueroa said.

Standing before tables covered with illegal drugs and firearms, James announced what she said was one of the biggest drug ring takedowns in her three years as attorney general.

"We are also going after those who make profit and claim lives by selling these drugs on our streets," James said. "Once again, we are taking action to do just that, and to prevent the death and destruction and carnage caused by drugs and guns."

Twelve people from Ulster, Dutchess and Saratoga counties, who range in age from 21 to 60, were arrested and indicted Wednesday for their alleged roles in the ring that James said flooded the communities with heroin, cocaine and methamphetamines.

The arrests came following a yearlong joint investigation between the state Attorney General’s Organized Crime Task Force and the Ulster County Regional Gang Enforcement Narcotics Team.

Law enforcement seized 11 kilograms of cocaine with a street value of $1.2 million; more than 15,000 meth pills; Xanax and heroin pills; over 39 firearms; high-capacity magazines and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

"What makes this illegal pill operation that much more dangerous and disturbing is the fact that people were buying these drugs, but they did not know they were buying, ingesting heroin and meth," James said.

She said the drugs were sold on the street and marketed as oxycodone and Adderall. She said defendants imprinted the pills with the markings as the pharmaceutical versions of those drugs.

"You cannot stand here and think this is a public health crisis," Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro said. "This is murder."

Molinaro and Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan, who are challenging each other in the Aug. 23 special election for the 19th Congressional District, put their political differences aside to applaud the effort of law enforcement who helped get the dangerous drugs off the streets.

"We’re on the case. Law enforcement is on the case, both in terms of going aggressively on violent criminals and gangs and weapons of war, but also doing the preventative work to make sure those struggling with addiction, struggling with mental health, are getting the help they need," Ryan said.

Molinaro said, "This is an important moment, and we hope it sends a chilling message to those who are preying on our kids and preying on those living with addiction."

James announced in April that $1.5 billion was secured for New York state as a result of settlements with the manufacturers and distributors of opioids.