PHOENIX — Editor's Note: The above video is from an earlier broadcast.
A Maricopa County grand jury has indicted a suspected drug trafficker after investigators allegedly found him in possession of 140,000 fentanyl pills.
Jose Montoya Miranda, 28, has been charged with several felonies after DEA agents in Phoenix arrested him on May 11 for allegedly possessing large quantities of fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine.
According to the DEA, investigators found Miranda in possession of 11 pounds of fentanyl powder and 140,000 fentanyl-laced pills. One of the kilogram blocks of fentanyl was notably stamped with the "Transformers" logo, according to the DEA.
Miranda is apparently not the first suspect to use the popular cartoon as a way to brand their product.
Ecstasy dealers in Canada reportedly stamped the "Transformers" logo onto their pills before investigators took down their network in 2011, according to CTV News.
Another suspected ecstasy dealer in Texas was arrested after investigators allegedly found him with pills designed to look like the Optimus Prime character from "Transformers," according to Wichita Falls Times Record News.
A DEA spokesperson told 12 News the cartoon stamp is commonly used by drug trafficking operations to label which drugs need to be shipped to the right buyer.
Miranda has been charged with illegally conducting an enterprise, transporting or possessing narcotics, and misconduct involving weapons. The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges during his arraignment in Maricopa County Superior Court on Tuesday.
VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL: Traficante de pastillas de fentanilo con el logo de 'Transformers' es acusado en el condado Maricopa por cargos de drogas
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