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LONGMONT, Colo. (KDVR) — Police say they seized nearly 45 pounds of fentanyl-cocaine packs in Longmont and arrested a man with “direct ties to the Sinaloa cartel.”

Adalberto Reyes-Carrillo, 48, was taken into custody at the Super 8 hotel on Main Street, an arrest affidavit shows. The sting operation happened on Friday and involved multiple police organizations, all led by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The DEA and its Front Range Task Force worked with local police to set up the drug buy after it “received information on a possible fentanyl dealer” in the Denver metro area, later determined to be Longmont, according to the affidavit.

Around 10 a.m., a man later identified as Reyes-Carrillo pulled up to the hotel in a truck and put a cooler in an SUV, according to the affidavit. The DEA then arrested him “without incident.”

Police say they found 14 “brick-like packages wrapped in black electrical tape with suspected fentanyl,” weighing about 45 pounds in total. One of the packages was opened to test the substance, which showed a positive result for fentanyl, according to the affidavit.

Reyes-Carrillo was booked on counts of unlawful distribution and possession of the substances. A judge set his bond at $500,000.

Records showed he remained in custody Monday afternoon at the Boulder County jail.

The agencies involved in the arrest included:

Fentanyl overdoses, seizures on the rise

Colorado has one of the nation’s highest increases in fentanyl overdoses from year to year, much of it the effect of drug users unknowingly taking fentanyl that’s laced into their other drugs, the FOX31 Data Desk has found.

Drug seizure data from Colorado State Patrol shows that the state is seeing a 10-year drug trafficking record, with this year’s fentanyl seizures totaling hundreds of pounds by August.

“The Sinaloa cartel is one of two primary cartels responsible for flooding the United States with dangerous and deadly fentanyl,” Brian Besser, special agent in charge of the DEA Rocky Mountain Division, said in the news release.

The yearly amount of fentanyl seized at the southwestern border has risen nearly sixfold since 2019 while border agents seize less and less heroin.