Speeding Stop in Nevada Turns Up 700 Pounds of Fentanyl and Meth, Prosecutors Say
A man the Justice Department identifies as an illegal immigrant faces federal trafficking charges after a deputy's stop on U.S. Highway 93 led to a 13-tote haul.
A routine speeding stop on a rural Nevada highway ended with more than 700 pounds of suspected fentanyl and methamphetamine seized, according to federal prosecutors.
Francisco Joel Garcia Farias, 26, faces federal drug trafficking charges, Fox News reports, citing the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Nevada. A Lincoln County sheriff's deputy pulled over his pickup on U.S. Highway 93 near Ash Springs on Oct. 13 after seeing it travel above the speed limit. A narcotics detection dog alerted to the truck.
Inside, prosecutors say, deputies found 13 large storage totes holding about 30 pounds of suspected fentanyl and 677 pounds of suspected methamphetamine, a combined haul of more than 700 pounds. Per the criminal complaint, authorities recovered roughly 187 packages of a white crystalline substance weighing about 307 kilograms and 13 brick-shaped packages weighing about 14 kilograms. Field tests of selected samples were positive for methamphetamine and fentanyl.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Sigal Chattah said the 14 kilograms of fentanyl represents about seven million potentially lethal two-milligram doses, "enough to kill more than twice the population of Nevada." She put the street value of the fentanyl and meth together at about $2 million. Note that the lethal-dose figure is a prosecutor's estimate and not a count of anyone harmed.
"The massive scale of this seizure underscores the staggering volume of illicit narcotics flowing into our communities from transnational criminal organizations," Chattah said.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said, "Anyone who plans to release a deadly drug like fentanyl onto American streets will be prosecuted."
The Justice Department identified Garcia Farias as an illegal immigrant in its announcement. Homeland Security Investigations, the sheriff's office and Homeland Security Task Force partners worked the case. Fox runs a file photo of drugs from the announcement and says it is not evidence from this stop. Charges are allegations, and he is presumed innocent unless convicted. The reports we reviewed did not include a plea or a court date.