Arizona Continues Battling Deadly Counterfeit Fentanyl Pills Smuggled By Drug Cartels

Arizona continues to battle against counterfeit pills made with fentanyl being smuggled across the border by Mexican drug cartels, and victims continue to stack up. One doctor warns about seeing teenagers being taken to the ER after ingesting these pills, and two families hope that by letting people know they lost loved ones to fake fentanyl pills, it might prevent someone else from making the same mistake…

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Arizona Woman Sentenced To 12 Years For Selling Fake Pills That Killed One Man

A federal judge sentenced Fany Madrigal-Lopez to 12 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to selling counterfeit oxycodone pills made with fentanyl. Even after she learned of one customer’s death in November 2016, she continued to sell those pills until law enforcement finally caught up with her in August 2017…

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Teenager Stopped At Border Crossing With Suspected Fake Fentanyl Pills

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and their canines had a busy day in Arizona on September 18th. Officers at the Port of Nogales stopped two smuggling attempts, including one man with over a pound of fentanyl taped to his legs. At the Port of San Luis, a 16-year-old was stopped with over a quarter pound of suspected fake fentanyl pills taped to his legs…

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Arizona

Our 2018 information sheet summarizes recent counterfeit drug incidents in Arizona.

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Over 3,500 Suspected Fake Fentanyl Pills Seized In Two Busts In Arizona

Two separate law enforcement investigations in Arizona have recently taken thousands of suspected counterfeit pills made with fentanyl off the street. One bust was made in a parking lot in Buckeye with additional pills seized later following the search of a house. The second bust took place in a mall parking lot in the middle of the day…

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Arizona Pair Arrested with 8,000 Fentanyl Pills Indicted by Grand Jury

An Arizona grand jury has handed down indictments for the two men arrested in May. Prosecutors allege that Octavio Gutierrez-Hernandez and Jorge Bazan were trafficking more than 2,000 fentanyl pills pressed with an “M30” imprint, which is what is typically stamped on oxycodone pills.

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Counterfeit Fentanyl Pills and Powder Being Seized In Ever Larger Amounts In Arizona

Law enforcement in Arizona has seen the amount of seized fentanyl powder increase by 2,000 and the number of fentanyl pills increase by 3,000 in just one year. Despite the increased seizures, the number of lives lost in that state to opioid overdoses also continues to rise. With fake pills being reported across the state – in Kingman, Phoenix, and Tucson, no pill bought on the street can be considered safe…

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