Police seize $500,000 of fentanyl concealed in carne asada beef at California traffic stop

California officials have seized nearly $1.7 million worth of fentanyl this month in two traffic stops, including one where the illegal drug was concealed in raw beef.

The first stop occurred Oct. 3 on Interstate 5 in Fresno County, where California Highway Patrol found 11 pounds of fentanyl worth around $500,000. The drug was located inside multiple packages of raw carne asada beef stored in a cooler, according to California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office.

Officers arrested the Washington suspect, who was booked in Fresno County Jail, the governor's office said in a news release.

The next day, patrol officers seized around 120,000 fentanyl-laced pills worth $1.2 million during a Merced County traffic stop on Interstate 5, the governor's office said. Officers also recovered two handguns and arrested two Washington residents who face multiple felony charges.

“Throughout the state, California continues the tough work to get deadly and illegal drugs off our streets. I am proud of the efforts by our CHP officers here to help keep our community safe and hold drug peddlers accountable," Newsom said in the news release.

The governor's office claims California has been able to crack down on fentanyl trafficking after adding around 250 more service members at state entry ports in June.

More Americans know someone who died from drug overdoses

More than 40% of American adults know someone who died from an overdose, according to a survey posted earlier this year.

The Rand Corporation, a nonprofit think tank, said nearly a third of survey responders said an drug overdose death has disrupted their life, but noted that little is known about the impact of these deaths on extended families.

Fatal overdoses have been on an upward trajectory since 2000. At least 109,000 U.S. deaths were reported in 2022, up past 100,000 in 2021. Most of the overdoses were due to synthetic opioids like fentanyl. 

Provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed overdose deaths through September 2023 increased about 2% compared to 2022.

Contributing: Eduardo Cuevas