Two Maryland men were each sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to attempting to smuggle thousands of pills.
According to the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, “In the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, MD, the Honorable Jill Cummins has sentenced co-defendants Malik Marin, 27, of Bowie, MD, and Tuflah Davies, 27, of Laurel, MD. Both defendants pleaded guilty to possession of a large amount of fentanyl, and they received the same sentence during separate hearings last week: 15 years in prison suspend all but five years to serve and five years of supervised probation upon release.
On December 6, 2023, the defendants traveled from Los Angeles, CA, to Rockville, MD, on Amtrak, transporting illicit drugs into our county. Davies and Marin were stopped by Montgomery County Police in Rockville. Officers found multiple bundles of pills wrapped in plastic in their possession. The defendants were transporting thousands of pills, weighing 2.2 kilograms, in their luggage. Many of the pills contained fentanyl.
Assistant State’s Attorneys Kimberly Cissel and Jennifer Harrison prosecuted this matter.
The Drug Enforcement Administration, Washington Division Office HIDTA Group 45, led this investigation, and the operation was supported in part by the Maryland Criminal Intelligence Network (MCIN). The Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention and Policy (GOCPP) supplies grant funding and strategic assistance to MCIN member sites. These resources enable the identification, disruption, and dismantling of criminal organizations through enhanced inter-agency collaboration and data sharing, contributing to a safer Maryland for all.
“Fentanyl is killing people in our county, the country and worldwide. The effort to address the flood of fentanyl into our community is one of the most important things we can do. We thank our law enforcement partners and our own Overdose Prosecution Unit for their work on this case,” said State’s Attorney John McCarthy.”