Border Patrol drug dog catches 'almost two pounds' of fentanyl pills hidden in Mexican woman's underwear

Border Patrol agents stopped "almost two pounds" of fentanyl pills from hitting American streets at a port of entry earlier this week, a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol statement says.

The catch happened at the Nogales-Mariposa port of entry on the Arizona border on Tuesday afternoon. "Officers at the Mariposa Crossing referred a 22-year-old Altar, Sonora, Mexico, woman for further inspection at a pedestrian lane after a CBP narcotics detection canine alerted to an odor it was trained to detect," the press release says. "A subsequent search by officers led to the removal of 5 packages hidden in the woman’s undergarments contain[ing] almost two pounds of fentanyl pills, worth nearly $21,000."

A picture provided with the press release shows the packages of fentanyl pills seized.

Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Border Patrol then turned the suspect over to ICE's Homeland Security Investigations.

Fentanyl is an extremely potent opioid and a key driver of overdose deaths in the ongoing drug crisis. Just a tiny amount of it can kill someone. According to the DEA, “as little as two milligrams is a lethal dosage in most people.”

The CBP press release does not say what whether or not the pills were pure fentanyl or cut with another substance.

Earlier this week, CR reported that an ICE bust in West Virginia had seized enough fentanyl to kill "potentially more than 750,000 people," according to United States Attorney Mike Stuart.

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