(The Center Square) – A multi-agency undercover fentanyl trafficking investigation in Central Florida led to the largest seizure of fentanyl in the history of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
They seized 11 pounds, enough to kill 2.7 million people, 28 times the number of people living in Polk County and greater than the populations of 15 individual U.S. states.
“Our detectives seized over 11 pounds of fentanyl, which is enough to kill 2.7 million people,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement. “This poison is coming into the country across the border from Mexico, and we are going to continue our investigation into the Mexican drug cartels who are killing innocent people.”
Two milligrams, the weight of a mosquito, is considered a lethal dose. Illicit fentanyl precursors are shipped from China to Mexico where Mexican cartels manufacture pills to look like candy or prescription drugs and then transport them through the southern border into the U.S.
Detectives with the Central Florida HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area) task force worked with officers from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations Tampa Office, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, as well as with U.S. Border Patrol agents and with State Attorney Brian Hass in the 10th Judicial Circuit.
In addition to the historic fentanyl seizure, officers also arrested three individuals.
The investigation began in September 2022 after detectives learned that Mexican cartels, foreign national in the country illegaly, and others were trafficking large quantities of fentanyl from Mexico into Florida, first into Bradenton and then into Polk County. Working undercover, they arranged to purchase fentanyl for $24,000 a kilo from a source in Mexico. The local facilitator of the purchase was 28-year-old Ignacio Rodriguez of Bradenton. Rodriguez confirmed to investigators that the Mexican dealer would only sell large amounts and the price fluctuated depending on quality.
By Sept. 19, detectives had negotiated the purchase of $60,000 worth of illicit fentanyl and met Rodriguez in Polk County, authorities said. He brought them two kilos of fentanyl concealed in a Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal box and three kilos in a cooler.
He warned them be careful when handling the fentanyl to avoid overdosing, authorities said. He suggested they wear a mask and gloves and drink milk to lessen the feeling of tightness in their chests if they were to ingest it, according to the sheriff’s office. He also told the detectives he could sell them marijuana, meth and cocaine.
Two other suspects involved in the scheme were 29-year-old Mario Alberto Castro Solache, an illegal foreign national living in Raleigh, North Carolina, and 27-year-old Pedro Mondragon of Lillington, North Carolina, authorities said.
On Oct. 11, Castro Solache and Mondragon came to Polk County to arrange a multi-kilogram sale of fentanyl, authorities said. Castro Solache told undercover agents that he and his Mexican supplier wanted to establish part of their drug trafficking operation in Polk County and he planned to move there to handle Mexican cartel operations, authorities said.
Both Castro Solache and Mondragon were taken into custody the next day and were booked into the Polk County Jail. They told detectives they are paid to collect money for their Mexican fentanyl drug dealer, authorities said.
Castro Solache, who’s believed to have illegally entered the U.S. in May, was charged with conspiracy to traffic in fentanyl and currently has a U.S. Border Patrol hold in the county jail, the sheriff’s office says.
Mondragon was charged with conspiracy to traffic in fentanyl and bonded out of jail five days after he was arrested, authorities said.
The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office took Rodriguez into custody on Oct. 14 on a Polk County warrant for trafficking in fentanyl, conspiracy to traffic in fentanyl, possession of a vehicle for drug trafficking, unlawful use of a two-way communication device, and possession of drug paraphernalia, authorities said. He was released from the Manatee County Jail the next day after he posted a $56,500 bond.
The Mexican cartels involved with the operation, investigators learned, are the La Familia Michoacana and Sinaloa cartels.
Less than two weeks earlier, 20 people were killed in Guerrero, Mexico, from a cartel shootout. While many Americans may vacation in Acapulco, the largest city in Guerrero, the state is referred to as Tierra Caliente (Hot Dirt) because it’s at the center of an ongoing cartel turf war.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has designated the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and has called on President Biden to do the same. AG Moody and 17 attorneys general have also called on the president to classify illicit fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction.
Since the president has been in office, Texas law enforcement working through Operation Lone Star have seized enough lethal doses of fentanyl to kill everyone in the United States. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents have seized enough lethal doses of fentanyl to kill 5 billion people.
The DEA also recently said it had seized 36 million lethal doses of fentanyl in operations from May to September nationwide.
