Employees of a Maine restaurant were in for a surprise when they opened a wooden crate they thought contained mugs they had ordered. Instead, they found a plastic tote containing an estimated 31 pounds of fentanyl, valued at $3 million, the Associated Press reports.
The shipping label listed the restaurant’s address, but the name of someone who did not work there. Suspecting the contents were drugs, the employees alerted police, who confirmed the crate contained fentanyl. An hour later, the man whose name was on the shipment arrived, looking for the crate.
Jeremy Mercier, a 41-year-old with a 2007 federal drug conviction, was arrested and charged with drug offenses and for violating bail conditions. The co-owner of the restaurant was relieved that the drugs didn’t make it to the streets, given the ongoing opioid epidemic. The investigation is ongoing, with state and federal law enforcement getting involved.