Three Mexican drug traffickers arrested in California with 1 million fentanyl pills

The suspects, all from Sinaloa, planned to sell the drugs, which would have been capable of killing 600,000 people. They face a potential life sentence.

Police arrested three Mexican drug traffickers who were moving one million fentanyl pills in the city of El Monte, Calif., located in Los Angeles County. The criminals were transporting the shipment in their car at the time of the arrest.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California filed a complaint against Florencio Camacho Allan (28), Gerardo Gaixola-Patino (29) and Alex Valdez Oroz (25), originally from Sinaloa, Mexico. They are being charged with one count of possession of drugs with intent to distribute. If convicted, the detainees would face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The events occurred last week. The agents stopped the drug traffickers' car, a white Volkswagen Jetta, in the parking lot of a roadside hotel. Upon searching the vehicle, police encountered the drugs in the trunk and body of the car. The amount of fentanyl seized is enough to kill an estimated 600,000 people by overdose.

Prior to the arrest, the drug traffickers confessed that they sold 10,000 fentanyl pills for $7,500 to two undisclosed buyers. They claimed that they had arranged the sale of the 1 million pills that were seized to the same clients.