60 dead from drug more potent than heroin

Sixty people have died in the UK in the past eight months, in circumstances believed to be linked to a drug more potent than heroin, it has been revealed.

Fentanyl and its analogues – chemical adaptations – are being mixed with heroin and in some cases proving fatal, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

Users are being warned that dealers are playing “Russian roulette” with their lives by lacing heroin and other class A drugs with synthetic opioids.

The NCA and West Yorkshire Police raided a laboratory suspected of producing fentanyl and one of its analogues carfentanyl in April.

Fentanyl is around 50 times more potent that heroin, while carfentanyl can be up to 10,000 times stronger than street heroin.

The agency’s deputy director Ian Cruxton said: “The NCA has been working with partners, both in the UK and overseas, to take action against those drug dealers who are playing Russian roulette with the lives of their customers by mixing synthetic opioids with heroin and other class A drugs.”

He added: “We believe the illicit supply from Chinese manufacturers and distributors constitutes a prime source for synthetic opioids and chemicals used to make them.”