.Photo: display of drugs seized at the border
SAN YSIDRO BORDER – U.S. Custom Border & Protection Officers announced a record-breaking fentanyl bust. They sent Fernando Jesus Peraza (38) of Tijuana, Mexico to a secondary port-of-entry inspection and seized masked drugs.
Officers found four packages of pills resembling M30s, or oxycodone, concealed in in a rear quarter panel of his vehicle.
Subsequently, law enforcement arrested Peraza, a U.S. citizen working in San Diego County, yesterday at 2:30 AM. The 20,000 designed-to-deceive pills tested positive for the deadly opioid fentanyl.
Consequently, Peraza is now charged with importing over 20,000 fentanyl pills. Agents believe it is the largest seizure of fentanyl in pill form along the U.S.-Mexico border.
As a result, the U.S. requested detention based on flight risk at yesterday’s appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jill Burkhardt. On August 10 Feralta faces a detention hearing. He also faces a preliminary hearing on August 21, 2018 at 9 AM at federal court in San Diego.
For the charges of Importation of Controlled Substances, Peralta faces the maximum penalty: 10 years minimum to life; $1 million fine.
“This is the biggest fentanyl pill seizure we’ve seen along the Southwest Border, and it’s likely a national record,” U.S. Attorney Adam Braverman said. “I’m relieved that these pills are off the streets because of the vigilant work of law enforcement. But that relief is tempered by the fact that people are overdosing every day because they took fentanyl-laced pills just like these, oblivious to the deadly consequences.”
