TEMPE, AZ — Three people have been arrested, accused of exchanging 14,000 fentanyl pills at Arizona Mills Mall in Tempe.
Detectives with MCSO’s Special Investigations Division, and Homeland Security, made the arrest Wednesday afternoon after observing the transaction.
While in the parking lot of the mall, investigators say they witnessed 40-year-old Roberto Yescas and 40-year-old Edwin Veliz-Flores exchange a brown bag.
Investigators then moved in to arrest the subjects, and Yescas, Veliz-Flores and a third person, 34-year-old Ines Acosta, tried to leave the scene.
Yescas allegedly jumped into a vehicle driven by Acosta but the two were eventually stopped before they were able to get out of the parking lot. Veliz-Flores was also taken into custody at the scene.
The fentanyl found in the brown bag is estimated to have a street value of about $154,000, according to MCSO.
No injuries were reported in the incident.
All three face charges of narcotic drug possession for sale and narcotic drug transportation.
