The sample was confiscated from a suspect in the Bogenhausen district last December, as the State Criminal Police Office (LKA) announced on Monday. Carfentanyl is actually used to anesthetize elephants and rhinos.
The officers initially assumed that the brownish powder was heroin. However, during an examination in the LKA laboratory, experts discovered that the drug also contained carfentanyl. According to police, the substance is a powerful opioid that has a pain-relieving and euphoric effect when consumed. An overdose leads to life-threatening side effects such as respiratory arrest, as well as nausea, dizziness, unconsciousness and coma.
Dozens of deaths
Carfentanyl was first seized from the drug scene in Germany in 2016. The European Drug Monitoring Center EMCDDA reported several dozen deaths linked to the use of the drug, including in Belgium, Estonia, Norway, Sweden and Great Britain.
