Paper blotters with witch image potentially deadly: police

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Trick-or-treaters are being warned to beware of potentially lethal drugs on paper with a picture of a witch when they go out on Halloween.

Winnipeg police spokesman Const. Rob Carver said that during a drug seizure on Friday, six paper blotters laced with fentanyl were discovered. They could even be laced with carfentanyl, which is more potent.

Carver said police worry there could be more in the community.

“Given the nature of the blotters, and the close timing of Halloween, (police are) advising caution, should the public encounter any of these items which appear to be harmless pieces of paper,” he said.

“If a child touches this, it could be lethal. I can’t stress it even more strongly.”

Carver said the blotters are about the size of a postage stamp and if anyone sees one, they should immediately call 911.

“We’ve seized six and we don’t usually find just six, so that’s certainly our concern that there would be more,” Carver said Sunday.

Police in Winnipeg have found blotters with opioids before.

In September 2016, police said they seized upwards of 1,500 blotter tabs containing carfentanil, which is 100 times more powerful than fentanyl, when a tactical team carried out a search warrant at a hotel.

In June, Winnipeg police chief Danny Smyth said carfentanil was being distributed in blotter tabs with the street name Drop Dead.

Smyth described the blotter tabs as being similar to the way L-S-D was distributed in the 1970s.

Carver said blotters often have images, such as a cartoon character, and that drug dealers will identify with a particular image.

“This one is unique in that it’s right before Halloween and does have a Halloween theme,” he said.

Four people were arrested during the drug bust in a Fort Rouge residence.

Besides the fentanyl blotters, police seized 11 grams of methamphetamine worth $1,100, about $1,800 in cash, bear spray, and “numerous capsules containing an unknown white powder.”

Carver said the powder and blotters are being sent to Health Canada to determine what they are, but the process usually takes weeks.

Cameron Joseph Bonham, 41, has been charged with several offences, including trafficking fentanyl. He remains in custody.

Two males, aged 39 and 27, and a 25-year-old female have been charged with other drug offences and were released on promises to appear in court.

— with files from The Canadian Press

Kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca