Authorities recover $2.5M in fentanyl pills during drug bust in Phoenix
Posted 1/30/20
Another $2.5 million worth of the illegal and deadly fentanyl pills are off the streets of Phoenix.According to a release, the Phoenix Police Department, working as part of a Drug Enforcement …
You must be a member to read this story.
Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.
Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here
Otherwise, follow the link below to join.
To Our Valued Readers –
Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.
For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.
Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.
Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.
Need to set up your free e-Newspaper all-access account? click here.
Non-subscribers
Click here to see your options for becoming a subscriber.
Register to comment
Click here create a free account for posting comments.
Note that free accounts do not include access to premium content on this site.
I am anchor
Authorities recover $2.5M in fentanyl pills during drug bust in Phoenix
Posted
Another $2.5 million worth of the illegal and deadly fentanyl pills are off the streets of Phoenix.
According to a release, the Phoenix Police Department, working as part of a Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force, seized another 137,000 fentanyl pills Thursday, Jan. 30.
The investigation started earlier this month when authorities learned of a man in Phoenix supplying local drug traffickers with large quantities of fentanyl pills.
Once they developed enough information, the task force, led by a Phoenix police sergeant, other officers, and an air unit, stopped Alexis Meza, 20, in his car near 24th Street and Thomas Road.
Police said they found 122,000 fentanyl pills in the vehicle. When authorities went to his apartment near Indian School Road and 43rd Avenue, they found a large quantity of methamphetamine, fentanyl pills, cocaine, and marijuana. Members of the Gun Squad also responded when officers found numerous guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition inside the home.
In all, the task force seized:
137,100 Fentanyl Pills
3 kilograms of Fentanyl
38 pounds of Methamphetamine
1 pound of Marijuana
$5,000 cash
7 Handguns
2 Rifles
Ammunition
4 vehicles
Mr. Meza was booked into the Fourth Avenue Jail on various drug charges.
His arrest comes on the heels of one of the largest fentanyl busts in Arizona. Last week, Marcelino Ontiveros Quintero, 24, was pulled over with approximately 165,000 of the blue “M-30" fentanyl pills in his car.
The drug problem is impacting the lives of people in and around the Phoenix area, police stated. Earlier this week, a report from the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office determined that an Arizona State University student found dead in his dorm room in November died from a mix of drugs, including fentanyl. The day after that report was released, another ASU student was found dead of a possible drug overdose.
