EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A grand jury has indicted a man federal officials identify as a large-scale fentanyl and heroin distributor in New Mexico, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said on Wednesday.
Jose Magaña Garcia, a Mexican citizen illegally present in the United States, allegedly sold 2,000 fentanyl pills to an undercover officer that he delivered through intermediaries on Aug. 13 in Albuquerque.
Federal agents tracked Magana to an apartment in northeast Albuquerque and allegedly recorded him conducting drug transactions and using sudden and unpredictable driving tactics to detect if he was being followed.
On Aug. 27, agents executed a search warrant at Magaña’s apartment and found 8 kilograms of fentanyl pills, 4 kilos of heroin and more than an ounce of methamphetamine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico.
Law enforcement officials also found packaging materials at the apartment and arrested Magaña there. The grand jury has charged him with possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and heroin. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Special Investigations Bureau of the Second Judicial District Attorney’s Office and the Laguna Pueblo Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Elena Stiteler is prosecuting Magaña.
This is the second noteworthy legal outcome in a drug case for New Mexico federal prosecutors in the last month.
On Aug. 7, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced a federal jury convicted an Albuquerque man for his role in a multi-state fentanyl trafficking conspiracy. Alex Anthony Martinez, 38, was accused of being the regional manager for an organization allegedly led by Heriberto Salazar Amaya.
Salazar has been linked to “historic” seizures of 3 million fentanyl pills earlier this year in Albuquerque and Phoenix that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said represented a “significant blow” against the Sinaloa cartel.
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