Gaston County K-9 finds 10,000 fentanyl pills inside statue

GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — A K-9 helped find 10,000 fentanyl pills in Gaston County on Monday, police said.

Around 3:30 p.m., officers pulled a car over on Hudson Boulevard near Armstrong Park Road that committed several traffic violations. While the car was stopped, the officer’s K-9 alerted to narcotics inside.

The officer and K-9 searched the car and found a statue of the Virgin Mary inside with 10,000 fentanyl pills. The pills weighed about a kilogram and are worth about $330,000, Gaston County police said.

The driver, Angel Alvarez De Leon, and the passenger, Alfredo Diaz, were both arrested and charged with several counts of trafficking fentanyl. Both men are from Dallas, Texas.

Anel De Leon and Diaz were both given $1 million bonds and are being held at the Gaston County jail.

“The efforts of these officers has prevented the distribution of this dangerous drug, saving countless lives and preventing widespread harm to our community,” police said.

Police say the two men traveled 14 hours from Dallas to get to southeast Gastonia. They said it’s possible the drugs found in the statue were going to hit the streets there, adding to a growing problem.

In court Tuesday, Diaz told the judge he was clueless about the drugs.

“I didn’t really didn’t know what my partner was bringing,” he said through a translator.

The judge kept the bond for him and Anel De Leon the same.

Police say the pair was carrying enough drugs to put hundreds of lives at risk.

“Fentanyl can look like a Xanax pill or even a Tylenol pill,” said Capt. Jeff Phelps.

Phelps heads Gaston County’s narcotics division. He said most fentanyl comes from outside the U.S., and dealers use industrial presses to make it any pill they want. He said people will often unknowingly overdose. He also said it’s one of many major busts of a drug exploding in use in Gaston County.

“It’s unprecedented,” he said. “We have never seized more drugs than we have -- really starting last year.”

“Last year, we seized 39 kilos of fentanyl. And so far through June 1 we have seized 71 kilos,” Phelps added.

Phelps said he knows this seizure won’t stop other drugs from hitting the streets, so they’re trying to talk to the public however and wherever they can.

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