California Highway Patrol officers and K9s seized roughly $1.7 million worth of fentanyl during two traffic stops along the 5 Freeway last week, including a large shipment of the drug that had been concealed inside packages of carne asada, authorities said.
The busts took place Oct. 3 in Fresno County and Oct. 4 in Merced County, according to the CHP and the office of Gov. Gavin Newsom. Three suspects, all from Washington, were arrested.
"Throughout the state, California continues the tough work to get deadly and illegal drugs off our streets," Newsom said. "I am proud of the efforts by our CHP officers here to help keep our community safe and hold drug peddlers accountable."
Both seizures began as traffic stops, officials said.
Officers stopped a vehicle along the 5 Freeway in Fresno County on Oct. 3, according the the CHP.
A drug-sniffing dog alerted to the presence of narcotics, leading officers to discover 11 pounds of fentanyl powder that had been concealed inside packages of raw carna asada, the agency said. The drugs had an estimated street value of about $500,000.
"The driver, a 30-year-old man from Washington state, was arrested and now faces multiple felony charges, including possession of fentanyl for sale and transportation of fentanyl across non-contiguous counties," the CHP said in a written statement.
The next day, CHP officers stopped another car along the 5 Freeway, this time in Los Banos in Merced County, according to representatives of the governor's office. Again, a detection dog alerted its handler that it smelled drugs.
Officials seized 120,000 fentanyl pills with a street value of about $1.2 million, along with two handguns, according to statement from Newsom's office.
Two suspects, both residents of Washington state, were arrested on suspicion of multiple felony offenses, officials said.
California's war on fentanyl
As part of the governor's Master Plan for Tackling the Fentanyl and Opioid Crisis , Newsom announced in June that he was more than doubling the deployment of Cal Guard personnel at California ports of entry from 155 to nearly 400.
"This effort has produced strong results," the governor's office statement said. "Cal Guard’s Counterdrug Task Force has now seized over 5,000 pounds of fentanyl powder and 9.6 million pills containing fentanyl since January 2024. These seizures are valued at over $43 million."
The majority of the seized drugs were smuggled into the country by U.S. citizens, officials added.
State officials have also launched a website, opioids.ca.gov , to provide a "one-stop tool for Californians seeking resources for prevention and treatment, as well as information on how California is working to hold Big Pharma and drug traffickers accountable in this crisis," the statement said.
State officials are also working to increase the availability of the anti-overdose drug naloxone , as well as fentanyl test strips.
Fentanyl-related deaths in California spiked dramatically in 2019 and have continued to worry public health officials ever since, according to Cal Matters .
Between September of 2021 and September of September of 2022, 5,942 deaths were documented, representing 86% of all opioid-related deaths in the state, Cal Matters reported.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: CHP seizes $1.7 million in fentanyl on 5 Fwy., including stash hidden inside carne asada
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