KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department announced Wednesday that it seized over 10,000 fentanyl-laced pills over the weekend.
The counterfeit prescription pills, with a street value of over $100,000, were seized during a "routine" sweep of a shipping distribution area, the department says.
"The KCKPD wants dealers and suppliers to know that Kansas City, Kansas, is not the place to be doing business," said Capt. John Diaz, with the KCKPD Narcotics Unit.
Diaz said in a statement that the KCKPD Narcotics Unit makes routine sweeps with drug-sniffing K9s. They make sweeps at a variety of facilities, including package processing locations.
In 2022, the department seized 150,000 pills. Diaz said the department expects to seize even more this year.
"The pills seized are nearly identical to those dispensed by pharmacies, but contain potentially lethal amounts of fentanyl - a drug that is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine," a KCKPD news release states. "Once ingested or inhaled, most overdoses occur within seconds to minutes."
There were 174 overdoses and 40 fatal overdoses in KCK in 2022, with the majority being due to fentanyl, KCKPD says. This is an increase from 111 overdoses and 23 fatal overdoses in 2021.
Anyone with information related to the sale of fentanyl or illegal drugs is asked to call the KCKPD Narcotics 24-hour hotline at 913-573-6287.
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