Woman found carrying five pounds of fentanyl at KC bus station pleads guilty | FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV

Bags of heroin, some laced with fentanyl, are displayed before a press conference regarding a major drug bust, at the office of the New York Attorney General, September 23, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Bags of heroin, some laced with fentanyl, are displayed before a press conference regarding a major drug bust, at the office of the New York Attorney General, September 23, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A woman pleaded guilty on May 1 to illegally possessing and intending to distribute more than 5 pounds of fentanyl, a powerful opioid.

Evelyn C. Sanchez, 33, was arrested at a Kansas City bus stop, according to a press release from the US Attorney’s Office. Kansas City police detectives caught her traveling from Los Angeles to New York.

When a police dog led officers to a grey suitcase on the bus, Sanchez admitted it belonged to her, according to the release. Inside, police found 5.3 pounds of fentanyl.

The release states officers also found a false bottom in her purse, which contained nearly 6 grams of cocaine.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin used to treat extreme pain, according to the CDC. Overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids increased in the US by 47 percent from 2016 to 2017.

The Drug Enforcement Administration says it only takes about 2 milligrams of fentanyl for the substance to be lethal in most people. That makes 5.3 pounds equal to more than 1.2 million lethal doses.

Sanchez faces a minimum of 10 years in federal prison without parole with a possibility of a life sentence.

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