More than half a million dollars of drugs, guns seized in Arizona bust, investigators say
MARICOPA COUNTY, Ariz. - A 19-year-old man was at the center of a huge fentanyl bust after deputies say he was the person who was supplying dealers in the Phoenix area.
On Dec. 12, deputies with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office executed a search warrant at a Tolleson home and reportedly found half-a-million dollars worth of drugs, cash, weapons and jewelry.
"The search warrant came after months of diligent investigative work by Maricopa County Drug Suppression Task Force (MCDST) detectives. Over the months long investigation, detectives investigated a group of suspects selling thousands of fentanyl pills," the sheriff's office said.
After several people were arrested, investigators pinpointed Fredy Benjamin Medrano-Erenas as the person suspected of supplying the drugs, using social media to market them.
Several law enforcement teams discovered, at the home, the following:
- 72,000 fentanyl pills (street value $360,000)
- 748 grams of cocaine (street value $25,000)
- 3,320 grams of high-grade marijuana flower (street value $14,000)
- 5,995 grams of THC cannabis (street value $120,000)
- 339 THC vape carts (street value $6,800)
- About $124,544 in cash
- Two rifles, one of them having a fully automatic option
- 12 handguns
- High-end jewelry
The sheriff's office estimated those listed street values.
"All items were seized by detectives and impounded for evidence. Medrano-Erenas was booked into jail several charges which includes drugs and money laundering," the sheriff's office said.