Border guard dog finds enough fentanyl to kill nearly 3 million people

A border patrol dog was able to sniff out enough fentanyl to kill about 2.7 million people this week.

The K9 led US border control officers to three packages of fentanyl at an Arizona checkpoint where they eventually seized the drugs on 18 April.

John R Modlin, a US border patrol agent, tweeted about the incident.

"Three packages of fentanyl weighing 12 pounds were seized by Nogales Station agents at the I-19 Checkpoint. Just 2 milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal!

@DEAPHOENIXDiv responded to the checkpoint. The Mexican citizen driver faces criminal charges. #GreatWork," he wrote.

This makes the 12 pounds that the authorities had recovered on Monday fatal enough to kill a jaw-dropping amount of almost three million people.

Modlin added that the scene was attended by The Drug Enforcement Administration of Phoenix and a Mexican citizen is facing criminal charges. He also proudly shared a photo of himself and his trusty dog in his tweet.

Last year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the nation had hit a grim milestone. For the first time, more than 100,000 Americans had died of drug overdoses over a 12-month period. About two-thirds of the deaths were linked to fentanyl and other synthetic drugs, which can be 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, heroin or prescription opioids, according to The Independent.

While users sometimes seek out fentanyl specifically, it and other synthetics with similar properties are often mixed with other drugs or formed into counterfeit pills so users often don’t know they’re taking it.

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