Deputies credit K-9 with finding 50,000 fentanyl pills during traffic stop

PLACER COUNTY, Calif. — Deputies in California are crediting an alert K-9 officer with taking tens of thousands of fentanyl pills off the streets.

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A deputy with the Placer County Sheriff’s Office stopped a vehicle for a traffic violation on Aug. 29, and when the K-9 deputy approached the vehicle, it alerted its handler to the presence of drugs, deputies said in a news release.

Ruger, the K-9, alerted his handler to the driver’s side of the vehicle, where deputies then found five foil-lined packages vacuum-sealed with plastic. In the news release, deputies said inside the packages were blue-green M30 tablets, which are fentanyl pills. Each package contained approximately 10,000 pills.

The pills, which weighed about 12 pounds, had the capacity to kill millions of people, KCRA reported.

Deputies said that when they searched the car, they also found four cell phones and approximately $1,000 in cash.

The driver, Brigido Lopez-Beltran, 27, and the passenger, Joaquin Mardueno, 32, were both arrested and charged with the possession and sale of narcotics.

Deputies did not specify what violation prompted them to pull over the vehicle for the traffic stop.

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