COMET busts suspect hiding $50K worth of fentanyl in drink cans

A Macomb County-based drug task force say they’ve arrested a Detroit man who hid $50,000 worth of fentanyl, along with dozens of grams of crack cocaine in unique locations.

Members of the County of Macomb Enforcement Team (COMET) and the St. Clair Shores Police Department executed a search warrant Monday at a home in Detroit

Officers found over a kilo of fentanyl, 85 grams of crack cocaine, one semi-automatic pistol and $4,800 in cash. The kilo of fentanyl had been divided up into doses of 0.1 grams and packaged separately in lottery ticket folds for individual sale, investigators said.

F/Lt. Mike Shaw, a public information officer for the Michigan State Police, said police narcotics teams continue to focus on fentanyl as drug dealers are “looking to poison our communities.”

“The amount of time it took to individually wrap these lotto slips shows they don’t care what happens as long as there is a profit,” he said in a statement.

A photo released by the COMET team shows the drugs alongside Kool Aid and Country Time Lemonade cans used to hide them.

The kilo had been divided into more than 5,000 individual doses. Each dose is estimated to be worth approximately $10 to $20 dollars, which represents a minimum street value of over $50,000. Shaw said any one of the doses could be fatal.

The suspect was under investigation for his connection to a recent overdose death involving fentanyl. The suspect was arrested and lodged in jail pending a case review by federal and state prosecutors.

The investigation was supported by Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program (JAG) awarded by the U.S. Justice Department and administered by the State Police.