AUBURN, Maine (AP) — Workers of a Maine eating place were given a wonder once they opened a big wood crate that they idea was once a cargo of mugs that they had just lately ordered.
As a substitute, they discovered a plastic tote that contained what legislation enforcement suspect is 14 kilograms (31 kilos) of the robust artificial opioid fentanyl with an estimated side road price of $3 million, Auburn police Deputy Leader Timothy Cougle mentioned in a observation Saturday.
The tote had a transport label with the eating place’s deal with however the title of any person who didn’t paintings there. Workers who opened it noticed what they idea appeared like medicine, so that they contacted police, Cougle mentioned.
The crate from Arizona that arrived within the Maine the town about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Portland was once taken to the police division, the place a chemical box exam showed it contained fentanyl.
About an hour later, the person whose title was once at the cargo confirmed up in search of the crate and was once arrested, police mentioned.
Jeremy Mercier, 41, of Auburn, was once charged with drug offenses and for violating bail prerequisites. He’s being held in a county prison with out bail. It might no longer be made up our minds if he had an lawyer.
Mercier in the past frolicked in the back of bars on a 2007 federal drug conviction, Cougle mentioned.
The investigation is ongoing, and Cougle mentioned he anticipates state and federal legislation enforcement becoming concerned.
Mike Peters, the co-owner of Mac’s Grill, instructed WMTW-TV in an e-mail that he’s happy the medicine didn’t make it to the streets.
“The circumstances of overdose in our, and surrounding, communities is terrible, and fentanyl appears to be entrance and middle in the case of fatalities,” he mentioned. “It is rather unhappy.”