Report: Man Busted with 11 Pounds of Fentanyl at Illinois Walmart in Sting Operation Tied to Mexican Cartel

Federal agents busted a Missouri man in Aurora, Illinois, after he allegedly delivered more than 11.5 pounds of suspected fentanyl to an undercover officer in a sting operation tied to a Mexico-based drug trafficking network, CWB Chicago reported.

Homeland Security Investigations agents said Gerardo Ayub, 34, met with the undercover agent in a Walmart parking lot on Kirk Road to complete the transaction, according to a criminal complaint filed on Monday, per CWB’s report.

The agent allegedly told Ayub to put the bag with pounds of fentanyl in it into the trunk of his vehicle and to retrieve a bag of cash that was inside, according to the report. The bag contained fake money used as part of the sting.

Ayub allegedly took the bag of fake cash and drove away, only to return moments later to the parking lot, per the report. “Agents surrounded his vehicle and took him into custody. When they searched his car, they found a bundle of the sham currency next to the driver’s seat, suggesting he had realized the money was not real,” CWB said.

According to the report, investigators said the bag Ayub placed in the trunk of the undercover agent’s vehicle contained five brick-shaped packages wrapped in tan tape, and field tests revealed the substance contained fentanyl powder.

The sting was part of a larger federal investigation into a drug trafficking operation based in Mexico led by a man who goes by “Cabrera,” the report states, citing the complaint.

“A cooperating defendant—an individual assisting investigators in hopes of leniency in their own criminal case—told HSI agents that Cabrera is affiliated with the Los Cabreras cartel based in Durango, Mexico,” the report says, again citing the complaint, “which traffics kilogram quantities of fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine into the United States.” 

“HSI Chicago has been monitoring the group since at least October, coordinating with the cooperating source to identify couriers and mid-level distributors operating in Illinois and elsewhere,” CWB reported.