BROOKHAVEN, Ga. — Abelardo Avila Gomez, 46, a Mexican national previously deported from the United States, has been arrested in metro Atlanta on federal drug and re-entry charges.
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration Atlanta Field Division, DEA agents executed a search warrant at Avila Gomez’s apartment in Brookhaven on Feb. 19. Authorities reportedly found 15 “bricks” of fentanyl weighing approximately 37 pounds.
Avila Gomez was taken into custody in the apartment complex parking lot and confirmed as a resident of the searched apartment.
Prosecutors say Avila Gomez had been deported to Mexico in November 2014 but illegally re-entered the United States in 2023.
Jae W. Chung, special agent in charge of the DEA Atlanta Field Division, described the seizure as “an extraordinary amount of deadly poison” with the potential to cause catastrophic harm, noting that fentanyl is typically measured in milligrams, not grams.
Avila Gomez appeared before a U.S. magistrate judge on Monday regarding the federal charges of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and illegal re-entry by a previously removed alien.
The case remains under investigation.
