MORRISVILLE, N.C. — Deputies captured a man Tuesday who landed at Raleigh-Durham International Airport with 65 packets of fentanyl in his stomach, the Wake County Sheriff’s Office said.
Investigators had been tipped that Umberto Altamirano was flying from Orlando, Florida, to RDU with “a large amount of fentanyl,” deputies said.
After deputies detained him, Altamirano admitted to having the individual packages in his stomach, the Sheriff’s Office wrote in a news release. He was taken to the hospital, and 767 grams of the drug were ultimately recovered, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Deputies estimate the drug’s street value at more than $115,000.
Altamirano has been charged with trafficking opiates by possession and trafficking opiates by transportation. Online law enforcement records show that he lives in California.
He’s being held at the Wake County Detention Center under a $2 million bond.