WHATCOM COUNTY, Wash. — Officials with Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office, Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) announced today, Friday, July 22nd, that 2 persons have been arrested and about 91,000 fentanyl pills seized as a result of a multi-agency investigation.
According to today’s announcement, 2 men were indicted today in the Western District Court of Washington for drug trafficking offenses related to the distribution and sale of fentanyl pills following an investigation into their connections to a Transnational Criminal Organization (TCO) importing bulk quantities of fentanyl pills into Whatcom County.
HSI special agents working in conjunction with the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office received information that Juan E. Hernandez-Hernandez had arranged for the delivery of approximately 91,000 fentanyl pills in Bellingham.
HSI special agents later observed Alejandro Macias-Velazquez arrive at a parking lot in Bellingham to deliver a duffle bag. The duffle bag was later determined to contain approximately 10 kilograms of fentanyl concealed within cardboard boxes and potato chip containers. Both Hernandez-Hernandez and Macias-Velazquez were arrested.
The case is being investigated by HSI with assistance from the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office and Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations (AMO).
“Street sales of illicit forms of fentanyl are resulting in deaths in Whatcom County and across Washington,” said Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo. “The street price of the drug has plummeted, and it has become widely available in our local community. The Sheriff’s Office works very closely with Homeland Security Investigations and other partners to disrupt the organized criminal enterprises that traffic in this drug. This case illustrates the successes that can be achieved in combatting the proliferation of fentanyl when local and federal law enforcement combine forces.”