ASHEVILLE, N.C. — North Carolina police on Thursday seized 2.76 pounds of suspected fentanyl during an arrest, an amount authorities said equated to more than 625,000 lethal doses of the potent drug.
According to a news release from the Asheville Police Department, the seizure was the “largest single fentanyl seizure in Buncombe County history.”
Police arrested Jonathan Maurice Logan Jr., 33, of Candler, the Asheville Citizen Times reported. He was charged with trafficking in opium or heroin by possession, trafficking in methamphetamine by possession, possession with intent to sell or deliver fentanyl, possession with intent to sell or deliver methamphetamine, maintaining a dwelling for controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia, police wrote in the news release.
Logan is being held at the Buncombe County Detention Center on a secured $500,000 bond, WLOS-TV reported.
Asheville police Chief David Zack said officers were partly tipped off through an app used to report crime, the Citizen Times reported.
Police seized the fentanyl, 398.11 grams of methamphetamine and $10,976 in cash, the news release stated.
Police had “probable cause to believe” that Logan used a room at a West Asheville hotel to store and sell drugs, according to the Citizen Times.
An arrest affidavit stated that police also found a digital scale with a “white powder substance” on it, baggies for storing drugs, a brick press and a blender.
“After receiving information about Logan’s involvement in drug sales in Asheville, including tips from the Tip411 app, our officers were able to use that information to make the arrest,” Zack said in a statement. “This is a significant drug arrest which removes a large amount of this deadly drug from our streets, much in thanks to the support we receive from the community sharing your tips.”
According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, fentanyl is a Schedule II controlled substance that is similar to morphine, but about 100 times more potent. The DEA added that 2 milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal depending on a person’s body size, tolerance and past usage.
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