A father and daughter drug smuggling team was taken into custody after a routine traffic stop in Coolidge this week.
According to the Coolidge Police Department, on August 25, at 11:30 a.m., an officer working on an Operation Stonegarden detail conducted a traffic stop on I-10 at mile post 208 for a speed violation. During his investigation a K9 alerted to the vehicle and initially the officer located a large bag of blue pills believed to be fentanyl.
A search warrant was obtained and served on the vehicle which yielded over 60 vacuum-sealed bags hidden in interior compartments and in the headliner of the vehicle. In all, an estimated 108.5 pounds of fentanyl and estimated 5.5 pounds of heroin were seized with a total street value of approximately $2,700,000. The suspects, an undocumented father and his teen daughter were both booked into adult and juvenile detention pending review of charges by the Pinal County Attorney’s Office.
“We appreciate the collaborative efforts of US Border Patrol and HSI,” Coolidge Police Chief Grizzle said. “A big thanks goes out to the Coolidge Police Department K9 program for taking an estimated 500,000 fentanyl pills off the streets and undoubtedly saving many lives as a result.”