A family in Arizona bought a toy that was worth far more than what they paid for when they discovered more than 5,000 pills that were believed to be fentanyl in the doll.
Police in Phoenix said Saturday the child’s parents bought a Glo Worm at a thrift store in El Mirage, Arizona. The parents were cleaning the toy when, according to police, they found a sandwich bag containing the drugs.
Police said the family immediately reported their discovery and handed the drugs over to the authorities.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is often mixed with other illicit drugs such as heroin and cocaine that cause euphoric effects, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to the CDC, deaths from overdoses with synthetic opioids increased by more than 16 percent.
Law enforcement officers used the incident as a reminder to parents to inspect all open and used toys.
This was not the first time that banned substances were found in children’s toys.
In 2015, a New Jersey mother bought a $ 500 handmade “mermaid doll filled with cocaine” from Etsy. Investigators later determined that the Etsy store in Alabama used mer-baby dolls as a front to smuggle drugs.
