(The Center Square) – The Arizona Department of Public Safety dealt with four separate fentanyl pill seizures throughout the state from Nov. 7-14, according to a news release from the agency on Monday.
The seizures resulted in eight suspects arrested and 262.02 pounds of the potentially deadly pills were confiscated by law enforcement.
“Thank you to Department of Public Safety troopers for keeping our communities safe from the deadly fentanyl epidemic,” Gov. Katie Hobbs said in the news release.
“Through vigilance and hard work, DPS prevented hundreds of pounds of fentanyl pills from being released into the streets and have potentially saved countless lives. I will continue to relentlessly fight the fentanyl crisis, stopping the flow of drugs throughout our state, and holding drug traffickers accountable for spreading poison in our communities,” Hobbs continued.
The largest seizure from DPS took place during a traffic stop in the Wellton area on Nov. 8, which is in Yuma County near the southern border. Authorities took away 104.52 pounds of the pills after a drug-sniffing dog detected something was wrong, and two individuals were arrested.
As for the other confiscations, they took place in Fountain Hills, Joseph City, and Eloy. All of them started as traffic-related stops, but both the Fountain Hills and Eloy situations led to fentanyl pill discoveries in spare tires, according to the news release. The agency said they were likely headed for Phoenix, Chicago, and Albuquerque, and that they estimate it was around 1.18 million pills in total.
Drug confiscations in states like Arizona, California, and Texas are common largely due to the southern border. Newsnation reported in August that more than half of fentanyl is coming across the Arizona border, and many of those seizures end up happening in Maricopa County.
On the federal level, the busy Tucson Sector of the border dealt with a record number of fentanyl confiscated in October, according to Arizona Public Media.
