Image Credit: West Tennessee Drug Task Force – 28th,29th,30th / Facebook
The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –
Officers discovered over 20 pounds of fentanyl during a traffic stop on 1-40 in Fayette County near Memphis on Thursday morning.
Criminal Interdiction Agents noticed a 2011 Nissan Maxima with a fake Texas temporary tag traveling near the Fayette County/Shelby County line. The vehicle was pulled over for the false tag and for failure to exercise due care.
“One of my agents observed a vehicle with a fake Texas tag that was displayed on the back of it. When it passed by my agent, he did a very abrupt lane change cutting off an eighteen wheeler, forcing the eighteen wheeler to slam on his brakes, nearly causing an accident. The agent made a traffic stop on the vehicle,” said Johnie Carter, Director of the Drug Task Force.
As they were talking with those in the vehicle, officers became suspicious and requested permission to search the vehicle.
That search led them to find 22 pounds of fentanyl hidden in a couch cushion that was in the back seat of the car. According to Drug Task Force Agents, one of the passengers was using the cushion as a pillow when they first made the stop.
Officers arrested three men – Ervin Ortega-Zalaya, 26, and Jose Zelaya, 31, of Texas and Jonathan Zelaya, 23, of Lexington, Kentucky. All three were taken to the Fayette County Jail.
Carter says the powder they found could have been turned into 22,000,000 tablets.
“If this fentanyl were to be pressed into the popular yet deadly fentanyl pills, it could potentially make 22,000,000 1 mg tablets. The street value of these drugs is nearly $1 million in its powder form but if pressed into fentanyl pills, they could sell for as much as $220 million,” Carter stated.
Agents noted in a Facebook post that this was the largest fentanyl bust in Tennessee state history.
About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career. Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History. Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com