22 pounds of suspected fentanyl found during traffic stop

JACKSON, Tenn. — A West Tennessee law enforcement agency says 22 pounds of suspected fentanyl was found during a Thursday traffic stop.

A news release from the West Tennessee Drug Task Force says the drugs were found in a 2011 Nissan Maxima that was stopped along Interstate 40 near the Shelby-Fayette County line.

Law enforcement says that the suspected fentanyl was found inside a couch cushion that was in the back seat being used as a pillow by someone in the car.

The task force says three Texas men were arrested — Ervin Ortega-Zalaya, 26, Jose Zelaya, 31, and
Jonathan Zelaya, 23, of Lexington, Kentucky — and are being held in the Fayette County Jail.

“If this fentanyl were to be pressed into the popular yet deadly fentanyl pills, it could potentially make 22,000,000 1mg tablets. The street value of these drugs is nearly $1million in its powder form but if
pressed into fentanyl pills, they could sell for as much as $220 million,” said Drug Task Force Director Johnie Carter.

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