FENTANYL is flooding Malaga prisons, authorities warn, as reports grow of inmates receiving the deadly drug in their mail.
Officials say the powerful opioid, dubbed the ‘zombie drug,’ has been turning up in letters and patches sent to prisoners – sometimes even from their own families.
The alarm followed an incident at Alhaurin de la Torre jail on Wednesday, when an inmate was rushed to the infirmary under the influence of the drug.
Prison staff discovered he had taped 24 fentanyl patches inside his jacket during a face-to-face visit.
The inmate acted aggressively and showed clear signs of drug effects before being taken to the infirmary.
An MRI scan later revealed he had hidden several more fentanyl patches ‘inside his body.’
Prison workers’ union Tu abandono me puede matar (TAMPM) warned that if the other patches had reached circulation, the consequences could have been deadly for other inmates.
TAMPM added the incident highlighted how easy it has become to slip tiny, hard-to-spot patches through the postal system.
Staff say parcels and letters with fake senders are increasingly used to smuggle drugs like fentanyl and synthetic cannabinoids.
Prison workers fear the highly potent opioid could spark overdoses and violence behind bars.
Authorities say they are stepping up checks on correspondence – but admit the tiny patches are extremely difficult to detect.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine. It is used medically to treat severe pain, but even tiny amounts can be lethal if misused.
The drug has caused a surge of deaths in countries like the US and Canada, where it has been linked to thousands of overdoses and fatalities.
Experts warn that its extreme potency makes it extremely dangerous if it reaches people outside of a controlled medical setting – or, as in this case, prisoners.
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