There are more and more places where fentanyl is sold illegally in Peru. Thanks to intelligence work by the National Police of Peru (PNP), it was discovered that this powerful analgesic It was sold at a location in the ‘El Canchón’ gallery, located in Cercado de Lima.
As a result of the operation to stop the micromarketing of fentanyl, seven people were arrested this Tuesday, June 25. PNP agents also found that other medicines were sold without a prescription.
“The product known as injectable fentanyl was found at a stand. The establishment does not have authorization to market, to sell this product,” said Diris – Lima Centro staff.
For his part, Colonel Walter Ramos, head of the Crimes against the State Investigation Division, explained that they had already received information that in the aforementioned gallery, located in the block 5 of Emancipation Avenuemedicines of dubious origin are marketed and without complying with the corresponding protocols.
“We found fourteen ketamine and fentanyl injectables on this occasion, which can only be sold with a prescription, but which were freely available here. Fentanyl is a painkiller used for terminally ill patients to alleviate their pain, however, when mixed with a large dose of cocaine, it can cause death,” Ramos said in an interview with 24 Horas.
In total, the PNP seized More than 8 thousand units of pharmaceutical products in fifteen intervened stalls. The workers at the premises will be detained while the corresponding investigations continue.
A week ago, the National Police arrested a man who owned 20 ampoules of this synthetic opioid on the seventh block of Emancipation Avenue. When reviewing his history, members of the PNP verified that he has no arrest warrants or police records; but neither does he present any work or professional activity in the medical field.
“He intended to illicitly and informally market this drug that goes by the name of fentanyl, which is a medication used mainly to control pain in post-surgery patients, but mainly in cancer patients,” Colonel Gallardo Mendoza told Tv Perú.
“He states that he is dedicated to the sale of gloves, masks, and aprons and that he occasionally offers this product. There are various presentations of fentanyl, such as pills, capsules or intravenous vials. Here in the region it is already known that the same thing is happening in Colombia, Ecuador and Chile,” he added.
Authorities confirmed that a fentanyl vial is sold on the streets of Lima for 120 soles. In that sense, Gallardo expressed his concern about how easy it is to obtain this substance and did not rule out the possibility that there are clandestine laboratories in the city that produce the drug illegally.
“It is a very powerful drug, so much so that it is 100 times more powerful than morphine, which is also a legal drug, medicated by specialists and 50 times more powerful than heroin,” he added.
