Big Drug Bust Takes Pounds Off Yakima City Streets

A big drug bust in Yakima, one of the largest in the county was made in December. Members of the federal task force called Safe Streets on December 28 of last year seized more than 120,000 fentanyl-laced pills 42 pounds of methamphetamine, a gun and $152,000 in cash.

Some of the cash was found outside the home

Authorities say $100,000 was buried in the property outside the home in the Moxee area.
One person, Eliseo Equihua-Zamora has been indicted in U.S. District Court on charges of Possession with Intent to Distribute Over 50 Grams of Actual Methamphetamine, Possession with Intent to Distribute over 400 grams of Fentanyl, and Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime. The ongoing case is being investigated by the FBI Task Force, which members include the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office, the Washington State Department of Corrections, Homeland Security Investigations, and United States Border Patrol.

Authorities say they're happy to take drugs off the streets

A press release says the U.S. Attorney Waldref commended the joint efforts of law enforcement for removing such a large quantity of illegal narcotics from the community “illegal narcotics, and fentanyl in particular, have become a scourge across the United States. I’m grateful to the FBI and our critical task force partners for working together to combat this dangerous poison. Without their combined efforts, more than 100,000 deadly fentanyl-laced pills and more than 40 pounds of methamphetamine would not have been removed from the community. As a result, our neighborhoods and communities are safer and stronger.”

The seizure could save lives

Richard A. Collodi, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle Field Office says "every time the FBI and our partners seize these dangerous and highly potent drugs, we are also removing from the community hundreds of thousands of opportunities for someone, perhaps even an unknowing young person, to make one bad choice and become addicted or overdose. As the drug landscape changes in our country, and fentanyl is hiding in unknown quantities amongst other drugs or being represented as another drug entirely, it is critical that law enforcement disrupt the flow of this poison into Washington state.”