LAWRENCE, Mass. — Police said an 11-year-old boy called authorities after he was rummaging through his father’s luggage and came across a large amount of what he believed to be illegal drugs Wednesday night.

Detectives went to the boy’s home in the Massachusetts city near the New Hampshire border where they said they confiscated 212 grams of heroin and fentanyl mixed in five separate sandwich bags in the luggage, said Lawrence Police Chief James Fitzpatrick.

The boy also told police he saw his father selling drugs to someone at their home earlier in the day when he got home from school, Fitzpatrick said.

Police said an arrest warrant has been issued for the 40-year-old father, who will face major drug trafficking charges. Fitzpatrick said the man will also face a child endangerment charge.

The boy and his 13-year-old cousin, who were both rummaging through the luggage, did not become ill, Fitzpatrick said. The man-made opioid painkiller fentanyl, which is 50 times stronger than morphine, can be toxic to those who are merely in the drug’s presence — even simply touching it.

The drugs found by the boy would bring about $8,500 when sold illegally, police said.

A scale and a bag of sandwich bags commonly used by drug dealers for packaging was also found in the luggage, Fitzpatrick said.

Fitzpatrick praised the boy for having the courage and insight to contact police when he made the discovery Wednesday night.

“We are definitely grateful he felt comfortable enough to call us,” Fitzpatrick said.

Police also immediately notified the Department of Children and Families about the incident. Such notification is standard protocol when a child is present in a criminally dangerous situation.

Lawrence officer Joseph Padellaro first responded to the boy’s home on Wednesday night. When he saw what the boy had found, Padellaro immediately notified the department’s drug detectives.

For the protection of the child, Fitzpatrick did not release the boy’s name or address. He also declined to name the father, whom police were looking for Thursday.

Harmacinski writes for the North Andover, Massachusetts Eagle Tribune.