HILL COUNTY, Texas — Earlier in October, a Texas DPS trooper and a Hill County Sheriff's Office deputy discovered around 10 pounds of black tar heroin and fentanyl inside a decoy battery in a vehicle.
During the traffic stop, the DPS trooper deployed his K9 and received a positive alert on the vehicle, then officers found the battery which appeared to have been tampered with. There were 12 duct taped packages inside of the battery.
According to authorities, "field tests of the substances revealed them to be black tar heroin (4.76 lbs. / 2.26 kilograms) and fentanyl (5.09 lbs. / 2.30 kilograms)."
The driver of the vehicle was a 31-year-old male from the San Antonio area — he was taken into custody on the charges of "manufacture or delivery of substance in penalty group 1 >=400g, manufacture or delivery of substance in penalty group 1-B >=400g, and unlawful carrying of a weapon."
He is currently being held at the Hill County Jail, with a bond of $1,502,500.
"Our community is not immune from the scourge of narcotics in, and passing through, our county. In the United States, according to the CDC, 150 people die every day from overdoses related to synthetic opioids, like fentanyl," the Hill County Sheriff's Office said.
"With fentanyl being on the rise, Sheriff Watson has worked to ensure that each Hill County Sheriff’s Patrol Car is equipped with Narcan, a substance that can reverse the effects of a fentanyl overdose."
According to the DEA, one kilogram of fentanyl has the potential to kill 500,000 people.
The Hill County Sheriff's Office has had several successful deployments of Narcan to citizens in the field.
"We are appreciative of the hard work, and celebrate the efforts, of these two law enforcement officers in preventing this from hitting the streets in the US," the sheriff's office said.
"Great work to both and a testament to the close working relationships we share with our other agency partners."
