Between Lego children’s games they trafficked Mexican drugs in New York; there is an overdose every three hours, warns the DEA before avalanche of fentanyl
Street narcotics vendors in Manhattan stuffed a stash of rainbow fentanyl pills into a box of “vintage Legos” in an attempt to smuggle the deadly drug into the city, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said yesterday.
A DEA task force in Manhattan found 15,000 fentanyl pills packed in two black bags inside a Lego box in the back of a rental car around 7 p.m. Wednesday, the agency said yesterday at a news conference.
Latesha Bush, a 48-year-old resident of Trenton, NJ, was arrested inside the car in the raid in Manhattan, near Hudson Yards. The drugs found came from Mexico, authorities said.
“Fentanyl is the most significant threat to our public health and safety. In New York City there is a drug overdose every three hours. At the national level it is every five minutes, 295 a day”
Frank TarentinoDEA Special Agent
“Drug cartels have become increasingly creative in trying to smuggle the popular but deadly narcotic in recent months,” he said. New York Post. Authorities warned in August that drug traffickers have been smuggling the rainbow colored pills to make them look like candy, with lethal implications.
A few weeks ago, the DEA seized 15,000 pills hidden in packets of “Skittles and Nerds” candy in Connecticut, and police have warned that drug dealers may increasingly target children.
“Fentanyl is the single most significant threat to our public health and public safety,” DEA Special Agent Frank Tarentino said Tuesday. “It’s poison. It’s a parent’s worst nightmare, especially when se acerca Halloween. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Every day we have more seizures. In New York City there is a drug overdose every three hours. At the national level it is every five minutes, 295 a day”.
Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan called the Sept. 28 Lego undercover raid “the first significant seizure of rainbow fentanyl pills. Distributors are looking to expand the market.”
The DEA said the drug cache picked up in Manhattan, destined for distribution in NYC, was marked with an “M” and a “30” in an attempt to resemble “30M” oxycodone hydrochloride pills.
Bush’s arrest was the latest in the DEA’s “One Pill Can Kill” campaign, which has withdrawn about 36 million doses of fentanyl of the nation’s streets, including some 500,000 in New York alone, the agency said.
This year the New York City authorities launched a controversial campaign on public transportation with “advice” to consume fentanyl “safely”, which some described as counterproductive and irresponsible.
- DEA: 20% of the country’s fentanyl is in the already violent state of New York; Traffickers use social networks and hidden compartments in cars to introduce drugs and weapons
