Police seize 130,000 fentanyl pills near border wall

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Police in Juarez, Mexico, say they have arrested a man and a woman in possession of 14 kilograms of fentanyl pills, powder and precursor chemicals in a neighborhood just south of the U.S. border wall.

Chihuahua state police arrested Juan Carlos T. P., 37, and Maria Concepcion L. L., 58, on Oct. 9 as the pair rode in a black 2013 GMC Terrain in the Anapra neighborhood of northwest Juarez.

The SUV was carrying two large plastic bags with 130,000 fentanyl pills, a kilo of fentanyl powder, 5 kilos of a chemical used to process fentanyl, a 9mm gun, a .38-caliber gun and 61 bullets, the state police said in a statement Thursday.

The arrests, drug and weapons seizures came about after intelligence reports on fentanyl trafficking in the area led to the suspects, the state police said.

Officials did not say where the pair was taking the seized blue pills stamped with the characters “M30.” The statement says they came from a clandestine lab in Anapra that has been “dismantled.”

The state police said it will turn over the suspects to Mexican federal authorities in charge of prosecuting drug trafficking and illegal firearm possession.

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