Authorities seized 12,000 pills believed to contain fentanyl that someone tried to bring in candy boxes through a security checkpoint at Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday. Narcotics detectives and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents made the seizure around 7:30 a.m., according to the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The suspect tried to go through Transportation Security Administration screening “with several bags of candy and miscellaneous snacks with the intent of boarding a plane,” deputies said. Security officers discovered that the candy boxes contained pills. “The suspect fled prior to being detained by law enforcement but has been identified and the investigation is ongoing,” the Sheriff’s Department said. Information on whether the pills had tested positive for fentanyl was not available. Though the pills were hidden inside candy boxes, it’s not likely they would have been passed off as candy, said DEA spokesperson Nicole Nishida. “It’s a concealment tactic,” she said.
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