20,000 suspected fentanyl pills tossed during chase, Wichita man and woman arrested
A Wichita man and woman are in custody Wednesday after an undercover drug operation led to a vehicle chase where authorities seized 20,000 counterfeit pills believed to be fentanyl.
The man and woman were identified as Kavonte Horton and Jordan Cooper, both 18 and of Wichita, according to a news release from the Butler County Sheriff’s Office.
Around 11:30 a.m., Butler County deputies along with the United States Postal Inspection Service were conducting an undercover drug operation that involved the “controlled delivery of a package containing approximately 20,000 counterfeit M30 pills suspected of containing fentanyl,” the release said.
“The estimated street value could be as high as $200,000,” the release stated.
M30 pills (opioids) are often counterfeited as something else, including fentanyl, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The package was dropped off at an address in the 800 block of N. Taylor Street in El Dorado. A vehicle drove up to the residence and an occupant in the vehicle retrieved the package, the release said.
The vehicle was leaving as deputies attempted a traffic stop. The vehicle fled and a chase ensued.
Deputies chased the vehicle from El Dorado to the Kansas Turnpike where the package was thrown out of the car, causing it to break open on the highway. The pursuit ended when the vehicle exited on westbound K-96 and became disabled at the Hillside exit after driving over a concrete median, the release said.
Cooper and Horton were arrested and booked into the Butler County Detention Facility and face charges related “to the possession of the pills as well as the pursuit,” according to the release.
Authorities spent several hours on the turnpike cleaning up the pills.