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A mother could be in trouble after sending her children on a flight from Albuquerque to Dallas with fentanyl in their luggage, which later killed her boyfriend.
The incident happened in May. A woman identified as Magdalena Silva Banuelos put her sons, ages 8 and 10, on a flight to Dallas Love Field Airport to visit their father, according to a police news release.
Banuelos allegedly hid a deadly amount of fentanyl inside the children’s luggage. From airport surveillance video, the children’s father, Banuelos’ boyfriend, went through their luggage at the airport and went into a restroom.
Minutes later, he overdosed and was found dead inside a restroom stall, not far from his children, according to police.
“I feel for these children. To lose one parent due to the actions of the other is a calamity for a child,” U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham said in the release. “This defendant allegedly concealed fentanyl – a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin – in her own minor sons’ luggage.”
The name of Banuelos’ boyfriend was not released by authorities.
Banuelos was ordered detained pending trial and could face up to life in federal prison if convicted.
