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.
These illegal criminals should NEVER be released without serving maximum prison time. Minimum prison tme should be at least 10 years before any consideration for anything. If released, they will be back doing the same thing but being smarter about it.
As long as there are huge profits to be made there were always be people willing to take the risk to earn those profits. Lock up all the people you want for as long as you want and the day they’re pulled off the street two more will pop up to take their place because the money is just too fat to pass up.
Do you remember the game called “Wack-a-mole”? That is all law enforcement is doing with these so called big bust. They are arresting people at the bottom of the supply chain who are carrying a pitiance amount of drugs compared to the hundreds of tons of the same drug that gets brought into the US on a monthly basis. That I can recall we’ve had a War on Drugs that has been going on for the better part of 50 years but the only thing it’s really done was destroy the Fourth Amendment. Drugs today are more readily available, better quality, and cheaper than they ever have been and the War on Drugs has had zero impact on the consumption of drugs in the United States.
Once again Sheriff Skinner’s Deputies and N. Texas law enforcement busted for drugs. Like the rest of citizens they are clueless as to what this drug does to people. It really is laced with who knows what, and then the damage is done, one dose and you are hooked. They need a bigger jail.
It’s good that these drugs were pulled off the streets. But without a DA and judge that is willing to enforce the law on criminals such as these then like already stated, they will be back at it in no time. I just can not believe in this day and age the authorities can not stop it from coming into our country. Find the source and stop it! Interrogate these smugglers and get the source. Bill said it right and what a game it seems to be, pull the plug on the machine before it destroys more lives!
People should watch this YouTube Video entitled:
Streets of Philadelphia, Kensington Avenue, What’s going on Monday, July 26 2021.