WILMINGTON, NC - Private lab testing has concluded that 13 pounds (6 kilograms) of white powder seized in North Carolina wasn't fentanyl, but rather sugar.
Lt. Jerry Brewer with the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office tells WECT no controlled or non-controlled substances were mixed in with the sugar, according to this week's results.
The sheriff's office found the powder at a July bust at a home, along with marijuana, heroin and paraphernalia. Field testing identified the powder as fentanyl.
Bail for three suspects was reduced from millions each to $10,000 a week later, when a state lab concluded that whatever the powder was, it wasn't fentanyl.
The sheriff's office thought they had seized fentanyl with a street value of $2 million. According to American Sugar Alliance figures, 13 pounds of sugar retails for about $8.
