Sheriff’s office update: No opioid on antigovernment flyers
Authorities in Harris County, Texas, have reversed course and are now saying antigovernment flyers found on sheriff’s cars were not contaminated with the opioid drug fentanyl.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez issued a public warning last week when he announced that field tests showed a presence of the opioid on the flyers found on department cars in Houston. A sheriff’s sergeant was hospitalized with “fentanyl-like” symptoms after touching one of the flyers, the Houston Chronicle reported.
However, on Friday the sheriff’s office announced that more extensive laboratory tests showed that fentanyl was not present on the flyers and that the field tests were false-positives.
It’s not clear what, if anything, was on the flyers.
The sheriff's office is now looking into the reliability of the field testing kits, and a search is underway to possibly replace them, spokesman Jason Spencer said.
The flyers appeared to be produced by an organization prompting various conspiracy theories. Among other theories, the group claims the “deep state,” through the FBI and CIA, is using microwaves in an experimental, government-torture and tracking program aimed at individuals.
In a Twitter feed, the conspiracy group denied involvement in the flyer distribution.
