Detectives with the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Narcotics Division located 11 pounds of fentanyl during a traffic stop last weekend.
On Saturday detectives with the STPSO Narcotics Unit and Proactive Enforcement Unit conducted traffic stops on two Florida registered vehicles as they were traveling westbound on I-12 near Slidell.
With the assistance of Homeland Security Investigations and a United States Border Patrol drug detection K-9, detectives searched both vehicles.
They located and seized 5 kilograms (11 pounds) of fentanyl hidden within secret compartments inside one of the vehicles.
The discovery resulted in the arrests of four men, whom detectives learned were traveling from Florida to Louisiana with the fentanyl. The illegal drugs had an estimated street value of approximately $388,000. Mervin Cruz of Saint Cloud, Fla., Alexis Cintron of Davenport, Fla., Shaquan Stridiron of Orlando, Fla., and Yoscari Lizardo of Kissimmee, Fla., were all booked into the St. Tammany Parish Correctional Center.
