More Than 40,000 Fake Oxycodone Pills Discovered By MBPD

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA — A traffic stop in Manhattan Beach last week led officers to find a mountain of suspected fake Oxycodone pills, police said.

Officers patrolling Rosecrans Avenue on the night of Feb. 23 conducted a traffic stop after seeing a car that Manhattan Beach Police Department officer Andre Abreu said had violations. When officers searched the vehicle, they found over 40,000 fake pills in different places throughout the car.

"It's definitely a lot for one person to be transporting around," Abreu said.

Officers said the danger of these fake pills lies in what they could contain, and in cases like this, it isn't uncommon for them to be laced with methamphetamine and fentanyl. With the number of deaths due to fentanyl overdoses in Los Angeles County growing every year since 2016, officials caution the public to be especially careful.

In 2021 there were 1,504 deaths attributed to fentanyl overdoses with a majority of the people who died being between 26 and 39 years old, according to LA County's Public Health Department.

While MBPD officers said there was a possibility for the pills they discovered to contain fentanyl, Abreu said they won't know for sure until final testing is finished by the LA County forensic lab.

The driver of the vehicle that the pills were in was arrested and the case was turned over to the District Attorney's Office according to Abreu. Abreu commended his team's work in recovering these substances.

"It shows that our officers are proactive with the community and keeping Manhattan Beach safe," Abreu said.