On Tuesday, March 1, 2016 Bartow-Cartersville Drug Task Force agents responded to Interstate 75 near the Cartersville Main Street exit after a traffic stop conducted by task force officers yielded approximately 40 kilos of a powder substance at the time believed to be cocaine.

Agents arrested the sole occupant of the vehicle, Miguel Angel Valencia, after a search of his vehicle revealed several 5 gallon buckets containing suspected illegal narcotics. According to Captain Mayton, the 40 kilos were contained in an unknown liquid inside of the buckets making it difficult to handle and visually analyze. The substance was collected and transferred to the GBI Crime Lab for testing and analysis.

Captain Mayton said the task force was contacted by GBI Crime Lab personnel last week and was informed that the substance tested positive for Fentanyl. The crime lab further stated that it was the largest Fentanyl seizure on record for the State of Georgia. Based on that information contact was made with the task forces federal partners and it was discovered that it was one of the largest known seizures of Fentanyl in the United States.

Valencia is being held in the Bartow County Jail awaiting a Superior Court bond hearing.

Valencia

Valencia