The incident was the second major drug seizure in four days by Arizona State Police.
On the morning of Monday, February 20, 2023, Arizona State Police initiated a traffic stop for commercial vehicle drivers on Mariposa Road east of Interstate 19 in Nogales, Arizona.
While inspecting the commercial vehicle, the trooper observed several signs of criminal activity. A subsequent investigation of the commercial vehicle uncovered the following hidden inside the semi-trailer:
- About £1,035 of suspected methamphetamine
- About 173 pounds of questionable fentanyl tablets (about 784,000 tablets)
- About 21.75 pounds of suspected cocaine
The driver, a 38-year-old male from Nogales, Sonora, was incarcerated in the Santa Cruz County Jail on charges including possession and transportation of drugs for sale and possession and transportation of dangerous drugs for sale.
The street value of seized methamphetamine is estimated at just over $1 million, and the estimated value of seized fentanyl is about $3.1 million. The estimated street value of cocaine is approximately $197,000.
This was the second major drug seizure in four days by Arizona State Police.
February 16, 2023 (Thursday), Police seized 286 pounds of suspected fentanyl pills (approximately 1,297,000 pills) after a vehicle crashed on Interstate 10 in Sacaton. The driver of the car that caused the accident was hospitalized, and his condition is not life-threatening. The estimated street value of the fentanyl seized in that case was approximately $5.1 million.
In total, police have stopped an estimated two million fentanyl pills from flowing into Arizona communities in the past week.
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