March 13, 2023 |
Photo – Evanston Drug Bust – Courtesy Wyoming Highway Patrol
One of the Wyoming Highway Patrol K-9 officers, recently certified in detecting fentanyl, aided in busting a convicted felon last week before he could deliver the drugs to Wyoming communities.
The bust went down at gas station in Evanston on Thursday evening, according to a release from the Highway Patrol.
Special Agents with the Department of Criminal Investigation called in the patrol during a contact with a suspected drug dealer.
Deployed to the scene, was one of the WHP K-9 fentanyl-detection teams that completed their training and were certified two weeks ago.
The K-9 showed a positive response to the odor of drugs in the car. During the search, the trooper seized 1,349 fentanyl pills, branded with M30 markings, and nearly four pounds of methamphetamine.
According to national reports, counterfeit M30 pills have flooded the illegal drug market as easy-to-sell oxycodone substitutes. Much of the fentanyl contained in the opioids is made in China and enters the U.S. through Mexico or Canada.
The counterfeit pills are usually pressed as very light blue replicas of legally-prescribed Oxycontin 30-mg pills.
The official WHP photograph of Thursday’s seizure, in Evanston, shows a baggie and a plastic container, both filled with blue pills.
The fake M30 pills are indistinguishable from the original pill and usually sold in small batches that don’t give away how much a dealer might possess (high volume implies counterfeit origin). Depending on how much fentanyl is used in the illegal manufacturing of black market M30’s, users could ingest a fatal dose of breath-stopping synthetic opioids or nothing but harmless byproduct.
According to Friday’s news release, aagents believe these drugs, seized in Evanston, “were destined for communities within Wyoming.”
