Mexican drug kingpin Francisco Quiroz-Zamora, 41, was arrested in a sting operation late last year after he traveled to New York to collect a payment from an undercover agent posing as a drug dealer

A Mexican drug kingpin has been charged with smuggling 44 pounds of fentanyl into the New York City area from Mexico, which authorities say is enough to kill 10 million people.

Francisco Quiroz-Zamora, who is a high-level member of the Sinaloa cartel, was arrested in a sting operation in November after he traveled to New York to collect a payment from an undercover agent posing as a drug dealer.

Agents intercepted the 41-year-old drug trafficker as he arrived by train at Penn Station in Manhattan.

Police said Quiroz-Zamora, also known as El Gordo, has been involved in high-level trafficking for a number of years.

An indictment announced on Tuesday said that Quiroz-Zamora had arranged for narcotics to be smuggled from Mexico to Arizona and California via trucks, cars and drug couriers.

He communicated directly with New York City-based narcotics customers and arranged for members of his trafficking network to conduct transactions.

Quiroz-Zamora is accused of smuggling 44 pounds of fentanyl into the New York City area, which authorities say is enough to kill 10 million people

The drugs (pictured above) were seized at the the Umbrella Hotel in the Bronx on June 19 last year and at an apartment on Central Park West on August 4

Quiroz-Zamora is charged in connection to the 44 pounds of fentanyl seized at the Umbrella Hotel in the Bronx on June 19 last year and at an apartment on Central Park West on August 4.

Authorities said during that time frame, he received about $22,500 from an undercover officer via Western Union and wire transfer.

Quiroz-Zamora, who lived San Jose del Cabo in Baja, traveled to New York on November 27 to collect an additional narcotics payment from the undercover officer posing as a dealer.

Agents had tracked him across the country and were waiting to arrest him when he got off the train at Penn Station.

Quiroz-Zamora, who lived San Jose del Cabo in Baja, traveled to New York on November 27 to collect an additional narcotics payment from the undercover officer posing as a dealer

Police said he took a circuitous route from Texas to New York. He flew to Connecticut and then made his way to Delaware before boarding an Amtrak train to New York.

He was scheduled to appear in a Manhattan court on Tuesday to face drug trafficking conspiracy charges stemming from the Drug Enforcement Administration investigation.

Last year, seizures of fentanyl in cases brought by the narcotics prosecutor increased from 35 pounds to 491 pounds. At the same time, fatal overdoses tied to fentanyl reached an all-time high of more than 1,400 in New York City in 2017, officials said.

The drug is far stronger than heroin and cheaper to produce, making the potential profit margin much higher for traffickers who usually mix it with heroin for sale to users who often don't know what they're getting.