DERBY, Conn. _ Officers found a cache of 55 pounds of fentanyl in the cab of a tractor trailer truck stopped Wednesday morning, police said.
Police pulled the truck over about 10:50 a.m. as it was heading west on Route 34 in Derby.
While searching the vehicle, police reported finding the fentanyl, a synthetic opioid up to 50 times stronger than heroin.
The street value of the drug was estimated at $1.5 million, police said.
The driver, Erick Escalante, 47, of Arizona, was taken into custody by Derby police and later turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Derby police said Escalante faces potential federal prosecution. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office said Wednesday afternoon that he had not been charged.
