Parents' worst nightmare: police found fentanyl in Lego boxes in New York
'06.10.2022'
Nadezhda Verbitskaya
Drug Enforcement Administration agents said their latest seizure of "rainbow fentanyl" is the largest in New York history. 15 brightly colored pills containing the drug have been found hidden in children's toys. NBC New York.
A New Jersey resident, 48-year-old Latesha Bush, rented a car and drove drugs to the western part of Manhattan, near 10th Avenue and West 37th Street. It was there that agents found her with a stash of dangerous pills tucked into a Lego box along with toy bricks.
“This is like trying to sell fentanyl as a party drug,” said New York Special Attorney for Narcotics Bridget Brennan.
On the subject: Drug epidemic in New York: more young people are dying from overdoses
The feds are warning parents to keep their kids off the pills. They contain lethal doses of fentanyl, according to the DEA. The special agent said the materials were supplied by the Chinese. And drugs are produced by Mexican cartels.
“Mexico and China pose an existential threat to the United States,” said DEA special agent in charge Frank Tarentino. "This is every parent's worst nightmare."
Pills in a transparent bag wrapped in black tape are valued at $300
The drug seizure was part of the DEA's "One Pill Can Kill" initiative. At the national level, the agency seized more than 10 million pills.
The feds say the threat is real. More than 2021 Americans died from fentanyl in 72. Agents started seeing "rainbow fentanyl" in New York back in February. And the recent arrest was the fourth seizure they've made, the DEA said.
“The pot of gold is all they care about, not lives lost,” Brennan said. “Mexican cartels don't care if drug users live or die. The main thing is that they can continue to expand their market and make money.”
Each pill was stamped with the letter M and the number 30 to make it look like oxycodone. Agents advise people to stay away from these pills.
Two milligrams of fentanyl can kill a person. The amount they found in the Manhattan block could have killed half a million people.
