TYLER, Texas — The Smith County Sheriff's Office arrested a man Friday evening with a vast amount of fentanyl.
On Feb.17, around 7:05 p.m., deputies performed a traffic stop on a van with Mexico plates on Interstate 20, near the Barber Rd. exit in Smith County.
"The van was pulling a trailer loaded with several motorcycles, and the vehicle and was towing another car," the SCSO said. "The van was observed to change lanes back in forth without signaling a lane change. At that time the vehicle was stopped for these traffic violations."
Officials said Erik Marin Islas Angeles, of Mexico, allowed law enforcement to search his vehicle. Officials found a car-sized battery inside the van in a DeWalt Job Box, which was not a normal weight for a car battery, and it appeared to have been hollowed out. Angeles also reportedly had three cell phones which kept ringing during the traffic stop.
The SCSO says located within the hollowed out batter was a large package with containing about 42,000 fentanyl pills weighing about 9 lbs. Angeles was arrested and booked into the Smith County Jail on a $2 million bond.
The SCSO partnered with the North Texas Sheriff’s Criminal Interdiction Unit, a multi-agency initiative between Collin, Grayson, Hunt, Parker Rockwall, Smith, Tarrant, and Wise Counties.
"In Collin County, we've had an 886% increase in the number of deaths related to fentanyl since January of 2019," said Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner. "I'm sure that if you check the statistics in your county and other counties across the nation, they're going to be very similar. It's a huge problem. We've seized over eight tons of narcotics and close to $13 million in cash that was southbound you know, destined for Mexico along with a number of weapons as well."
“I am proud of the interagency cooperation between in this multiagency task force,” Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith said. “I am also proud of our Narcotics Unit who in short notice responded to this incident. This influx of deadly fentanyl into our state and communities has to be stopped.”