Photo Courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protectio
According to NewsOne, on September 7, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents seized a fentanyl shipment from entering Memphis, Tennessee, that could’ve possibly killed millions of people.
The CBP reported that they found 2.85 kilos of fentanyl hidden in wooden crates, which is enough of the drug to kill hundreds of thousands of people.
The drugs found were initially imported from Michoacan, Mexico and were discovered at a Memphis port hub.
Fentanyl has grown to be a topic of widespread discussion recently and is suspected to be involved as a cause of death in the overdoses of many people, including music legends such as Prince and Tom Petty.
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“This might seem like a small seizure from a little handicraft gift box,” Acting Area Port Director Benjamin Canfield said in Memphis. “But if we look at those DEA numbers, this had the potential to overdose or kill 1.425 million people. That’s a lot of poison to be shipped to a residence in southeast Houston.”
The dangerously powerful narcotic was also recently linked to the death of comedian Fuquan Johnson.
As previously reported by Sister2Sister, Johnson was found dead of an apparent cocaine overdose on September 4 alongside model Kate Quigley, who overdosed but survived the incident.
The drugs that Johnson and Quigley took were possibly laced with fentanyl.
“Because of its potency and low cost, drug dealers have been
mixing fentanyl with other drugs including heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine, increasing the likelihood of a fatal interaction,” according to DEA.gov.“Drug trafficking organizations typically distribute fentanyl by the kilogram. One kilogram of fentanyl has the potential to kill 500,000 people.”
According to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the synthetic opioid is similar to morphine but nearly 100 times more potent.