Two people who were pulled over in South Carolina have been arrested after police discovered 1,500 grams of cocaine inside a fake pregnancy belly.
Sheriff’s deputies in Anderson County pulled over Anthony Miller and Cemeka Mitchem on April 12 as part of a “proactive patrol” on Interstate 85, CBS News reported. Mitchem appeared pregnant, but the pair “gave conflicting information about her ‘due date,'” police said in a social media post on Sunday. This was a “red flag” to deputies, they said, and when Mitchem realized the deputies were becoming suspicious of her story, she fled from the car with drugs falling from her fake rubber stomach.
Police said they collected more than 1,500 grams of cocaine during the traffic stop. Miller and Mitchem face charges of trafficking cocaine.
Earlier this year, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control released its annual report on drug overdose deaths in the Palmetto State, finding a “continued significant increase” over the past several years.
“From 2020 to 2021, the total number of drug overdose deaths in South Carolina increased by more than 430 individuals, from 1,734 deaths to 2,168: an increase of more than 25%,” the state said in a press release for the report. “By comparison, there were only 573 drug overdose deaths in the state in 2012. Opioids continue to be the primary cause of overdose deaths in recent years, contributing to 1,733 of the 2,168 fatal overdoses in 2021.”
Fentanyl is largely responsible for the increase, with drug overdose deaths involving fentanyl increasing by more than 35% in South Carolina between 2020 to 2021.
“Other drugs are being laced with fentanyl – without the user’s knowledge – which can cause a fatal overdose even in a small quantity,” said Sara Goldsby, Director of the South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services (DAODAS). “If there is a possibility of coming into contact with an unsafe drug, it’s important to have naloxone on hand in case of an overdose.”
The sheriff’s office posted about the drug bust on Sunday, though county records show the pair were arrested on April 12. Miller and Mitchem have been denied bond and haven’t been released.
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