ATLANTA — Two men have been sentenced to federal prison for mailing fentanyl-laced pills disguised as prescription medication to Atlanta, the Department of Justice announced.
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According to the DOJ, Northern District of Georgia, Walter Alexander Argueta-Aguilar, 21, an undocumented immigrant from Sonsonate, El Salvador, was sentenced to five years in prison and will face deportation, while Jorge Manuel Zamora Cano, 23, of Mesa, Ariz., received a ten-year sentence and five years of supervised release.
“Argueta-Aguilar and Cano profited from the opioid epidemic and endangered thousands of lives by trafficking fentanyl-laced pills resembling actual medicine,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg.
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The investigation began in February 2024 when federal agents started looking into Argueta-Aguilar, who was living in Norcross, for receiving mail parcels containing counterfeit pills with the imprint M30, a common mark on legitimate oxycodone tablets.
Officials said, on March 19, 2024, federal agents intercepted a package shipped by Cano to Argueta-Aguilar from Arizona, which contained more than 125 grams of fentanyl-laced blue M30 pills.
According to court documents, between July 2023 and March 2024, Cano mailed dozens of packages containing over 50,000 blue M30 fentanyl pills to the Atlanta area, with Argueta-Aguilar receiving more than 28,000 of these pills.
The pills were often concealed in items such as stuffed animals to avoid detection, officials said.
“The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General is committed to combating the deadly fentanyl crisis facing our nation by holding those accountable that believe they can misuse the U.S. Mail to traffic drugs,” said Tammy Hull, Inspector General, U.S. Postal Service.
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The pair pled guilty to drug trafficking-related offenses, with Argueta-Aguilar pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and attempted possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, and Cano pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, and unlawful use of a communication facility.
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