Mesa police seize fentanyl pills with street value of $1.2 million

MESA, AZ (AZFamily) – Three people were arrested after Mesa police seized over $1 million worth of fentanyl.

On July 4 at around 10:30 a.m., Mesa Police responded to a welfare check in a parking lot near Rio Salado Parkway and Cherry Lane.

A 911 caller told police that there were three people in a gold Cadillac and the driver appeared to be unconscious and slumped over.

As officers approached the car, the driver, 26-year-old Gabriel Rodriguez, opened the door and ran away.

Two police officers ran after him, another stayed with the car. In the Cadillac were 38-year-old Julian Reyes and 24-year-old Sunflower Short.

According to police, the officer could see small blue pills scattered throughout the car. He also said that a partially opened duffel bag “contained several medium-sized packages wrapped in duct tape.”

The driver, Rodriguez, was arrested and taken to hospital because he cut his arm on barbed wire while trying to escape.

After officers obtained a search warrant, they found 58 wrapped bundles weighing over 200 pounds and two to three smaller, open packages inside the car.

According to police, the packages contained 750,000 blue fentanyl tablets of strength M30.

Passengers Reyes and Short were taken to jail for possession of narcotics and drug paraphernalia.

Rodrigez remains in the hospital, but faces charges of possession and transportation of narcotics for sale and possession of additional narcotics upon his release.

No further details were announced.

Do you see a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a recent news story? Send it here with a short description.

All rights reserved.