FORT WAYNE - A Fort Wayne man was arrested for trying to smuggle controlled substances from Indiana to Arizona.

Federal authorities said they arrested Artrell Scroggins, 32, on federal charges of conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute a controlled substance, including at least 50 grams of methamphetamine and at least 400 grams of fentanyl, both Schedule II controlled substances.

Reports out of Fort Wayne state more than a year of piecing together aliases, social media messages, and communication between officials in Arizona and Indiana, federal authorities formally charged Scroggins, labeled in U.S. District Court documents as, “the head of a drug trafficking conspiracy."

Scroggins allegedly lined his suitcases with dryer sheets in an attempt to throw off K-9 units.

He is being accused of organizing the movement of more than 22 pounds of methamphetamines as well as 20 pounds of fentanyl and other drugs that were smuggled in suitcases between Phoenix, Arizona and Fort Wayne.

WANE15 states officer with the FBI’s Safe Streets Gang Task Force in Fort Wayne detailed in court documents the years-long investigation into Scroggins’ dealings which began in 2020.