Over three pounds of Fentanyl pills have been taken off the street by Cibola County Sheriff’s Deputies. Just one Fentanyl pill can have a lethal dose, according to the US Drug enforcement Administration. According to Cibola County Sheriff Tony Mace, the bust was made along Interstate 40 on March 22.
The sheriff’s office is not releasing the name of this alleged offender, hoping not to scare away other elements this offender may have been working with.
The pills were allegedly hidden inside multiple containers of Mike and Ike candy, Fentanyl is a drug that should only be taken in protective settings under the supervision of a doctor, according to the DEA. A fatal dosage of Fentanyl is two milligrams, illegal Fentanyl pills can have anywhere from 0.2 to 5.1 milligrams, potentially double the fatal amount. Taking these illegal substances off the streets has been a large priority of CCSO’s Narcotics Interdiction Unit.
K9 Rankin, who recently won the Hero of Cibola award with his handler Deputy Julian Armijo, was able to smell the fentanyl during a routine traffic stop. Rankin and Armijo are a team trained to detect illegal narcotics, their partnership aides the Cibola County Sheriff’s Office in its pursuit of safe streets. The official count was 1.5 kilograms of Fentanyl pills, that comes out to roughly 3.3 pounds.
Sheriff Mace explained that criminals are trying a multitude of different ways to keep illegal narcotics hidden from the police, this was not the first time CCSO discovered narcotics disguised as candy.
As a priority of the Cibola County Sheriff’s Office, Mace said the office will not stop searching for and taking these potentially fatal narcotics off the street.