A missing lockbox containing highly dangerous drugs, which fell off of the back of an Irving Animal Services truck Monday, is now likely in the hands of a person who found it along the side of the road.[[320524152,L]]
Irving police are now asking that person to come forward.
“We need to find it,” said Officer James McLellan. “Obviously somebody may have it and just not realize who it belongs to, or what it is. And in that case we need it back.”
The unmarked metal lockbox measures approximately 10"X15"x6" and contains a quantity of ketamine/xylazine, a tranquilizer, a quantity of sodium pentobarbital and a logbook.
The ketamine/xylazine mixture is used as a sedative for animals, according to Irving police. But ketamine, known as “Special K” on the street, could be highly lucrative – and dangerous – in the wrong hands.
Sodium pentobarbital is used in euthanasia for animals and could be deadly to a person who used it mistakenly.
“So it’s a public safety issue at this point,” McLellan said.
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The box containing the drugs disappeared around 12:30 p.m. Monday in east Irving, near Irving Heights and Union Bower, when an animal control officer responded to a deceased animal call, according to police.
When the officer arrived at the next stop, they noticed that one of the compartment doors was open and the lockbox was missing, police said.
Several Irving police and animal services officers scoured the route that the truck drove Monday afternoon to try to locate the lockbox but had no luck in locating it.
The belief at this point is that someone found it and either doesn't know what they have or what to do with it because it is unmarked, McLellan said. Or, he added, "they have taken it and are trying to get into it. And once they get into it they’re gonna find the contents of these medicines and these drugs.”
According to Dr. Colette Levassuer, of the Airport Freeway Emergency Animal Hospital, the types of drugs that disappeared Monday are controlled substances and are therefore always kept under lock and key.
“Yeah. Nobody wants to have his license in jeopardy because of drugs like that,” Levassuer said, referring to the type of penalties that can ensue if a medical practitioner is proven to have knowingly misused these types of drugs.
“That’s an, ‘Oops.’ And you don’t want to have that oops, for sure,” Levassuer said.
Anyone with information on the missing lockbox is urged to contact the Irving Police Department immediately at 972-273-1010 or call 911.
If found, the box nor its contents should be tampered with due to the potential health risks associated with the misuse of the drugs.
NBC 5's Ben Russell contributed to this report.
