Two Tucson men have been arrested after troopers with the Arizona Department of Public Safety say they found more than 80 pounds of drugs during a traffic stop near Marana.
Carlos Calixtro-Varela, 27, the driver of a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck, was stopped on Interstate 10 by a trooper on Jan. 18 for moving violations.
During a search of the pickup truck troopers say about 52 pounds of methamphetamine, 28 pounds of fentanyl pills and more than 2 pounds of fentanyl powder were found, an agency news release said.
Investigators determined that the drugs were being smuggled from Tucson to Marana, the news release said.
Calixtro-Varela and the passenger, Francisco Calixtro-Varela, 30, were arrested and booked into the Pima County jail on suspicion of possession, transportation and sale of narcotic drugs and dangerous drugs, the release said.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in 2022 seized 379 million potentially deadly doses of fentanyl, a highly addictive substance that is 50 times more powerful than heroin.
