ONTARIO, Ohio (WCMH) — Police in Richland County estimate officers recently seized pills disguised as Oxycodone that were laced with enough fentanyl that they could have killed over 168,500 people.
The Ontario Division of Police seized more 1,500 Oxycodone pills with an estimated street value of $22,590 after recovering a stolen vehicle.
Lab tests later revealed the pills were actually fentanyl disguised as Oxycodone.
“As the public is aware, Fentanyl is a very deadly drug. The total amount of Fentanyl in all pills combined is in excess of 118,000,000 micrograms. The lethal dosage of Fentanyl can be as small as 700 micrograms. Doing the math, these pills could have resulted in over 168,500 deaths,” Ontario police said on Facebook.
Police arrested a 35-year-old man from Kentucky and seized suspected meth during a subsequent search.
“One of the takeaways from this incident is to see the appearance of these two very similar looking, yet very different pills. The picture on the top are the pills we seized. The bottom is a pic of a pharmaceutical manufactured Oxycodone pill. You cannot tell a difference,” police said.
