Sheriff announces large-scale fentanyl arrest, notes cooperative effort

TYLER — Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith is spreading the word about a recent large-scale arrest involving fentanyl — and making note of a cooperative effort to fight the drug’s growing presence in Texas. According to a news release from Smith, on February 17, a traffic stop by Smith County deputies on Interstate 20 yielded approximately 42,000 fentanyl pills, weighing a total of nine pounds. Smith says the pills were discovered in a false compartment after the driver, Erik Marin Islas Angeles of Mexico, gave voluntary consent for a search of his vehicle. Angeles is being held at the Smith County Sheriff’s Office on a $2,000,000 bond.

Smith says his office partners with the North Texas Sheriff’s Criminal Interdiction Unit, a multi-agency initiative involving Collin, Grayson, Hunt, Parker, Rockwall, Smith, Tarrant, and Wise Counties. According to the release, Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner stated, “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. These efforts save lives.”

Also as quoted in the release, Smith added, “I am proud of the interagency cooperation…in this multiagency task force. I am also proud of our Narcotics Unit who in short notice responded to this incident. This influx of deadly fentanyl into our state and communities has to be stopped.”