Law enforcement officers with the Arizona Department of Public Safety recovered more than 17 pounds of fentanyl pills during a traffic stop on Interstate 10 outside of Marana.
According to the officials, the 22-year-old Tucson resident involved in the encounter attempted to conceal the pills but was charged with possession, transportation, and sale of a dangerous drug.
“While policy from Washington D.C. continues to erode our border and the rule of law, the brave women & men at @Arizona_DPS are working tirelessly to secure the southern border and support fellow law enforcement professionals to protect our communities from these dangerous drugs,” remarked Governor Doug Ducey.
While policy from Washington D.C. continues to erode our border and the rule of law, the brave women & men at @Arizona_DPS are working tirelessly to secure the southern border and support fellow law enforcement professionals to protect our communities from these dangerous drugs. https://t.co/c4vLooCBuV
— Doug Ducey (@DougDucey) April 9, 2022
Based on information from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), two milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal. The amount seized in by the Arizona troopers near Marana was enough fatal doses of the synthetic opioid to kill 260,000 people – more than the number of every man, woman, and child in Scottsdale.
In a similar incident involving a recent Arizona traffic stop, the Scottsdale Police Department confiscated 23 pounds of fentanyl pills and 10.5 pounds of fentanyl powder.
According to the nonprofit Families Against Fentanyl, the drug is the number one killer of individuals ages 18 to 45.
At the same time, President Joe Biden’s administration is ending Title 42, a public health order that has allowed immigration officials to limit entry during the coronavirus pandemic.
Border officials have said they are concerned with the numbers of people amassing at the border, waiting for the health order to be lifted.
Tennessee’s U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty recently traveled to the southern border with local law enforcement. He criticized the Biden administration harshly for allowing the porous border to strain the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) with border crossers, which allows smugglers to more easily cross into the United States.
Lifting Title 42 “creates more incentives for illegal immigration into America and in doing so, they’re essentially partnering with the drug cartels and the Chinese Communist Party who are profiting immensely from this,” Hagerty said.
Meanwhile, Arizona Governor Ducey said, “It’s the federal government’s job to secure our border. Yet President Biden, Vice President Harris and Secretary Mayorkas have paid no mind to this crisis, and now they want to pour gasoline on the fire by lifting Title 42. What’s happening at the southern border is a national security crisis, a public safety crisis and a humanitarian crisis. The safety of our nation depends on effective policies like Title 42. Lifting it will severely impact our country, and the Biden administration must keep it in place.”
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Cooper Moran is a reporter for the Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Doug Ducey” by Doug Ducey. Background Photo “Fentanyl” by r. nial bradshaw. CC BY 2.0.
