ARIZONA NEWS

Mesa police find $600K worth of drugs during vehicle search

Oct 22, 2019, 10:56 AM | Updated: 1:05 pm

(Mesa Police Photo)...

(Mesa Police Photo)

(Mesa Police Photo)

PHOENIX — Mesa police found 16 pounds of heroin and more than 15,000 fentanyl pills in a vehicle during a search last week.

Officers received a tip about suspicious activity at a Phoenix Travel Lodge Hotel near McDowell Road and 51st Avenue, which led them to identify two suspects.

On Oct. 17, an officer stopped Marisol Beltran Marquez, 42, and a K9 signaled there were drugs in the vehicle.

Police searched the car and found the heroin and fentanyl, as well as 20 pounds of cocaine, 20 pounds of methamphetamine and $3,000 in cash.

The drugs were worth an estimated $600,000, according to police.

Officers later identified Jeusef Roberto Beltran Arenas, 24, as the person in control of the hotel room in which Marquez reportedly picked up the drugs.

Arenas had been stopped by police earlier in the day and detained for possession of illegal drugs.

Marquez told the police Arenas is her nephew, and she was asked to pick up his items in the hotel when she found out he was arrested.

She said she didn’t know what was in the bags but suspected it to be illegal drugs, according to police.

In total, Marquez and Arenas were charged with 26 counts of drug offenses.

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Mesa police find $600K worth of drugs during vehicle search