The Drug Enforcement Administration says teamwork by local, state and federal law-enforcement kept almost 170,000 deadly fentanyl pills off the streets.
The main suspect in the case was also caught with bundles of drugs two years ago.
A task force made up of Phoenix police and DEA agents had its eye on Marcelino Ontiveros Quintero, when they learned he was supposed to be part of a major drug deal, according to court records and a federal official.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety was called in to make a traffic stop of a car in which Ontiveros was riding.
Inside the car police found 165,000 pills with fentanyl as the main opioid, according to a federal official and court records. Thousands more of the pills known as “Mexican Oxy” were found when police served search warrants in Phoenix and Peoria.
Court records show, and the DEA confirmed, that as part of a 2018 plea deal, Ontiveros admitted to carrying roughly 40 pounds of marijuana from Mexico into Arizona.
