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SALT LAKE CITY — Police are investigating the case of a woman who found cocaine in a sealed box of tampons.

Cindy Davidson never suspected that the tampons she found for a good deal Saturday at the NPS Store, 1600 S. Empire Road, were anything out of the ordinary. The box was in perfect condition, sealed in cellophane.

But she became suspicious Sunday when she first opened the box.

"I noticed there was packaging inside that wasn't normal," she said. "They had removed the tampon and there was cocaine inside."

At first, though, she wasn't sure what she was seeing. There was a powdery substance rolled up in thick cellophane and taped shut inside the cardboard applicator. It was wrapped so tight she spent five minutes trying to open it and still couldn't.

In the box of 16, she inspected four and found two had the cellophane package inside and the other two were normal tampons.

"I started getting nervous because I thought it might have been a terrorist attack," she said. "I called my sister first and said I was going to call the manufacturer the next day and she told me to call the police."

Salt Lake police detective Carlie Wiechman said officers responded to Davidson's home, but couldn't immediately identify the substance.

"They called in the hazmat team from Unified Fire Authority to have them test it, make sure that it was safe and that it wasn't something that could potentially hurt anybody handling it," Wiechman said.

After investigating and performing some field tests, they determined it was powder cocaine. Officers then informed Davidson.

"I really couldn't wrap my head around it," she said. "I was just thinking it was crazy. I couldn't believe it had happened. It was just crazy to me."

The woman said there were other, similar boxes for sale at the store, which sells unclaimed property. The store has pulled that brand of tampons from the shelf and police are investigating.

"We're definitely looking into it until we can figure out exactly what's going on with the situation," Wiechman said. "It happened only a few days ago — we're still actively trying to figure out what's going on with this."

Police said Davidson handled the situation as she should have and asked that anyone who may have had a similar experience to call Salt Lake police.

Contributing: Shara Park

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