Fentanyl has been discovered inside the packaging of five Barbie dolls sold at a Missouri discount store, local authorities said.
Police in Independence, Missouri, said in a statement on Saturday that store security at Cargo Largo, a local discount store, contacted authorities “regarding a suspicious powder substance located in the packaging of a Barbie Doll”.
Officers tested the substance and determined that it was fentanyl, the potent synthetic opiate, they said. Authorities then worked with the store and determined that “five compromised units were sold”.
The police said they were able to track down and recover all five packages later that same day.
Authorities said that the investigation “revealed the Barbie Dolls themselves were not compromised” and that the “fentanyl was discovered taped inside the back packaging of the dolls”.
“There is no reason to believe compromised units were sent to other retailers and no injuries have been reported” the police said. “This remains an active investigation.”
According to local news station KSHB-TV, the dolls were sold between 19 March and 20 March, per police. Jeremiah Hall of Healing House, a Kansas City non-profit focused on substance abuse recovery, told the network of the dangers associated with fentanyl.
“Milligrams, really. A couple of grains of salt can kill somebody,” Hall said.
Fentanyl for years has been a primary driver of drug overdose deaths in the US, which reached a record high in 2022 with more than 111,000 for the year before beginning to decline, according to federal government statistics.
