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LAB: 13 pounds of white powder seized is sugar, not dangerous opioid fentanyl

A small bag of fentanyl is pictured here. The drug is 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine and just a speck of it can kill. Authorities say a 10-year-old Miami boy came into contact with the drug late last month and died.

WILMINGTON, N.C. — Evidence that investigators thought could lead to one of the biggest fentanyl busts in North Carolina turned out to be sugar.

Private lab testing concluded that 13 pounds of white powder seized in Wilmington was not fentanyl, but rather sugar, despite field test results.

[Police: Armed man robs Monroe Walgreens three times for fentanyl]

Lt. Jerry Brewer, with the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office, said no controlled substances were mixed in with the sugar, according to lab results.

Officials said certain components of sugar can mimic fentanyl in their field tests.

[RELATED: Powerful counterfeit pills using fentanyl harder to detect, DEA officials say]

The Sheriff's Office found the powder at a July bust at a home, along with marijuana, heroin and paraphernalia, according to officials.

[RELATED: Lenoir woman charged with murder in fentanyl overdose death]

Bail for three suspects was reduced from millions each to $10,000 a week later, when a state lab concluded that the white powder was not the opioid.

[RELATED: Mother charged with homicide after fentanyl allegedly found in toddler's sippy cup]

The Sheriff's Office thought it had seized fentanyl with a street value of $2 million.

According to the American Sugar Alliance, 13 pounds of sugar retails for about $8.

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