U.S. Border Patrol agents seized 340 packages of fentanyl pills worth an estimated $4.3 million near Gila Bend, Arizona, Wednesday evening, the agency announced in a press release.
According to the agency, Tucson Sector agents discovered the drugs during a motor vehicle stop of a white Chevy Equinox that exited Interstate 8 around mile marker 115, at around 6 p.m.
The agents saw several black duffel bags in the vehicle's rear cargo area and observed that the female driver was nervous when being questioned, the agency said.
After getting consent to search the vehicle, agents found that the bags contained packages wrapped in black tape and cellophane that were coated with axle grease, a technique smugglers use to mask the scent of the drugs, officials said.
The case was turned over to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, and the driver and her female passenger are now facing drug prosecution charges, the release said.
"I am grateful for the incredible work by Border Patrol agents to keep drugs off our streets," Sheriff Paul Penzone said in the release. "Their efforts will save lives and promote safety."
According to the release, fentanyl seizures are a top priority for agents due to its deadly nature and its "extreme" danger to the community.
Just 2 milligrams of the narcotic can be lethal.
According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, fentanyl "is a synthetic opioid that is 50-100 times stronger than morphine. Pharmaceutical fentanyl was developed for pain management treatment of cancer patients, applied in a patch on the skin. Because of its powerful opioid properties, Fentanyl is also diverted for abuse. Fentanyl is added to heroin to increase its potency or be disguised as highly potent heroin. Many users believe that they are purchasing heroin and actually don’t know that they are purchasing fentanyl — which often results in overdose deaths. Clandestinely produced fentanyl is primarily manufactured in Mexico."
The number of fentanyl overdose deaths increased from 57,834 in 2020 to 71,238 in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Those deaths were the majority of the record total 107,622 drug overdose deaths for the year, according to the CDC.
That is the highest number of drug overdose deaths recorded in a single year for the agency, and the very first time the annual total of deaths topped 100,000.
In April, President Joe Biden sent his National Drug Control Strategy to Congress, targeting prevention, treatment and recovery services, as well as reducing the amount of fentanyl available, according to the White House.
"This Strategy goes after two big drivers of the opioid epidemic: untreated addiction and drug trafficking," Biden said at the time. "It's time we treat addiction like any other disease. And at the same time, we are disrupting drug traffickers' financial networks, supply chains and delivery routes, including on the internet."
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