Sheriff’s Office: Man had 20,000 fentanyl pills in SUV

YAVAPAI COUNTY — Thursday, April 1, an I-17 traffic stop led to an arrest and the confiscation of 20,000 fentanyl pills.

According to a news release from the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office, Andres Herrera, 23, of Phoenix, was booked into the Camp Verde Detention Center on multiple drug charges. Those include transportation of narcotic drugs for sale, possession of narcotic drugs for sale and possession of narcotic drugs.

At about 3:30 p.m., a Yavapai County K9 deputy was conducting traffic enforcement along I-17 in the Bloody Basin Road area, near mile marker 259. Herrera’s SUV was pulled over for a traffic violation, YCSO said.

Deputies noticed multiple red flags when speaking to the driver, the report states. A search of the vehicle was conducted.

A deputy found 20,000 fentanyl pills hidden in a storage compartment in the trunk of the SUV, YCSO said. The pills have an estimated street value of $400,000.

“These drugs are flooding into our state from the southern border, making its way across the US. We have seen a 1,500% increase so far this year when we compare our seizures to the last 6 months of 2020,” said Sheriff David Rhodes. “Since January, our K9 unit alone has prevented more than 240,000 pills (estimated value of $4.8 million) from getting trafficked across Arizona and to the rest of the U.S. That’s a dramatic increase from the only 15,000 seized between July and December 2020.”