Powerful drugs found in Prince’s home 'were mislabelled'

Pills seized from the home of singer Prince contained the dangerously powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl but were mislabelled, according to reports.

Speaking to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, officials investigating the artist's death said the pills were labelled as hydrocodone, a weaker type of opioid.

Autopsy results released in June revealed Prince, who was found dead at 57 in an elevator inside his Paisley Park home in April, died of an accidental fentanyl overdose.

Officials told the Associated Press the singer had no prescriptions for controlled substances at the time.

According to the Star Tribune report, the musician weighed just 50kg at the time of his death and had significantly more than a fatal dose of fentanyl in his system.

The counterfeit pills found in Paisley Park reportedly contained a variety of drugs, according to the Associated Press, including fentanyl, lidocaine and U-4770, a synthetic drug eight times more powerful than morphine.

Tests on Prince prior to his death did not show fentanyl in his system, an official involved with the investigation said, indicating the singer was not a long-term user of the drug.

The official said Prince had many of these pills with him a week before his death when his airplane made an emergency stop in Illinois after he fell ill.

He reportedly received two doses of Narcan, an antidote used to reverse suspected opioid overdoses.