KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department announced Wednesday that it seized more than 10,000 fentanyl pills over the weekend.
The counterfeit prescription pills, with a street value of more than $100,000, were seized during a “routine” search of a shipping distribution area, the department says.
“The KCKPD wants merchants and suppliers to know that Kansas City, Kansas is not the place to do business,” said Capt. John Diaz, of the KCKPD’s Narcotics Unit.
Diaz said in a statement that the KCKPD’s Narcotics Unit carries out routine checks with drug-sniffing K9s. They conduct checks at a variety of facilities, including parcel processing locations.
In 2022, the department seized 150,000 pills. Diaz said the department plans to seize even more this year.
“The seized pills 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 said. “Once ingested or inhaled, most overdoses happen within seconds or minutes.”
There were 174 overdoses and 40 fatal overdoses in KCK in 2022, most due to fentanyl, KCKPD says. This is an increase from 111 overdoses and 23 fatal overdoses in 2021.
Anyone with information relating to the sale of fentanyl or illegal drugs should call the KCKPD Narcotics 24-hour hotline at 913-573-6287.
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Details and annual homicide data for the Kansas City area are available through the KSHB 41 News Homicide Tracker, launched in 2015. Read the KSHB 41 News Mug Shot Policy.
