A fentanyl bust in Smith County last Friday has put the spotlight back on the lethal drug’s circulation in North Texas and the special multi-agency unit formed to intercept it.
Law enforcement conducted a traffic stop on Interstate 20, during which time members of the North Texas Sheriff’s Criminal Interdiction Unit (NTXCIU) discovered a false compartment in the vehicle, allegedly containing 42,000 fentanyl pills, according to a press release by the Collin County Sheriff’s Department.
“This large seizure of fentanyl by NTXCIU deputies will make communities across East and North Texas that much safer. The eight Sheriff’s offices that comprise the NTXCIU will continue their close inter-agency cooperation to push back and fight the deadly scourge of fentanyl,” said Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner, per the release.
NTXCIU, formed in December 2017, is a joint project of the sheriff’s departments of Collin, Grayson, Hunt, Parker, Rockwall, Smith, Tarrant, and Wise Counties. The deputies in the unit are specially trained to target drug and human trafficking crimes.
The NTXCIU made another big bust just days earlier in Collin County. On February 10, unit deputies pulled over a Dallas resident in Plano and found 6,000 fentanyl pills and a gun in the vehicle, according to a Collin County Sheriff’s department press release.
“Setting up the unit took time — there are many moving parts — but the results were far more than worth it. We’re disrupting the drug and money supply chains, and the community’s response to the increased safety has been outstanding,” said Skinner, speaking with the COPS Office at the U.S. Department of Justice in 2018.
As previously reported in The Dallas Express, fentanyl has been a growing problem in North Texas, reaching new levels of severity following nearly a dozen overdoses by students at Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District who were buying the drug from a local drug house.
The problem has also been especially pronounced in Dallas, where City leaders have been unable or unwilling to suppress drug trafficking.
As of Sunday, 1,339 drug-related offenses were reported within the city limits so far this year, putting Dallas on track to hit the 9,791 incidents logged in 2022, according to the City of Dallas Open Data crime analytics dashboard.
The Dallas Express contacted the Smith County Sheriff’s Department and asked if there has been a noticeable spike in fentanyl cases in the jurisdiction.
“We have not seen a spike in fentanyl overdoses but we know it’s out there. There seems to be large amounts coming through the border and into Texas in general,” Sgt. Larry Christian told The Dallas Express.
“It’s most definitely a concern for law enforcement due to the dangerous nature of this drug, especially in powder form. A very small amount can kill and it can certainly cause serious complications if it simply enters your bloodstream through mucous membranes,” added Christian.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fentanyl is exponentially stronger than both heroin and morphine and, along with other synthetic opioids, is responsible for roughly 150 overdose deaths a day in the United States.
The suspect in last Friday’s fentanyl bust, Mexican national Erik Islas Angeles, is currently being held in Smith County Jail on a $2 million bond, according to jail records, which also indicate he is being held for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.