Hoard of potent elephant tranquilizers found in California drug cache, officials say

A police search uncovered a hoard of elephant tranquilizers 100 times more powerful than fentanyl in a Southern California home, prosecutors said.

Police recovered 21 kilograms of carfentanil, a fentanyl analogue, from a Perris home in August, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release. They also found cocaine and heroin.

Investigators later arrested a 30-year-old man and 27-year-old woman on suspicion of possession for sales of fentanyl, cocaine, and heroin, prosecutors said.

The two have pleaded not guilty and are being held without bail, the release said.

An opioid, carfentanil is not authorized for use by humans, prosecutors said. The drug is fatal to humans at nanogram doses.

“If mixed in with other drugs, the 21 kilos of carfentanil seized could have been enough to potentially kill more than 50 million people,” the release said.

Police searched the home as part of an investigation into a narcotics ring in Riverside County, prosecutors said.