By SDCN Editor
San Diego, CA–A Tijuana resident was arrested Friday morning for trafficking fentanyl, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said.
The Sheriff’s Border Crime Suppression Team was conducting narcotics interdiction in the northern portions of San Diego County when a detective observed a 2012 Chrysler 300 exceeding the posted speed limit. A traffic stop of the speeding vehicle was conducted on Interstate 5 near Camp Pendleton, Sheriff’s Department Sergeant William Kerr stated in a news release.
The vehicle’s driver, Alberto Jose Partida, was found to be a resident of Tijuana, Mexico. During the stop, Partida appeared nervous and provided deceptive answers to the detective. A Sheriff’s canine, Milo, conducted a sniff of the vehicle and alerted to the odor of narcotics. During the subsequent search, 32 packages of counterfeit Oxycodone pills were found in the car’s fuel tank. The packages contained an estimated 240,000 pills.
Partida was booked into the Sheriff’s Vista Detention Facility for transporting controlled substances with enhancements for possession of over 24 kilograms of the narcotic.
These types of pills, commonly known as “M30’s” or “Blues” are typically smuggled into the United States from Mexico and are known to contain lethal dosages of fentanyl. During the 12-month period ending in August of 2022, the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimated more than 107,000 Americans died from narcotic-related overdoses. Fentanyl’s pervasiveness has impacted communities throughout our country.
The seizure and others like it continue to save individual families from the loss of loved ones to accidental overdoses.
