Police in Metro Vancouver have arrested a dozen suspects and seized hundreds of thousands of pills as part of a multi-agency crackdown on the dangerously powerful narcotic fentanyl.
Vancouver police and the Burnaby and North Vancouver RCMP detachments launched the joint investigation, dubbed “Project Tainted,” in October 2014 following a troubling spike in fentanyl-related overdoses.
“We had a goal and that was to target those who were peddling poison in our communities,” Vancouver Police Supt. Mike Porteous told reporters Tuesday.
“We found during the course of our investigating that these drugs were being distributed all throughout the province.”
Fentanyl, which is considered 50 to 100 times more toxic than other narcotics, was detected in a quarter of the 336 illicit drug overdose deaths in B.C. last year. That’s up from five per cent in 2012.
Project Tainted culminated on Feb. 17 when police executed 11 search warrants at various Metro Vancouver properties, arresting several suspects and seizing massive stockpiles of various drugs worth an estimated $1.5 million.
That included 13,000 oxycodone pills, 29,000 fentanyl pills, 147,000 pills believed to be the anxiety drug alprazolam, and 503,000 coloured pills that have yet to be identified.
Police also seized dozens of kilograms of crack cocaine, powdered cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine, hash, and heroin, as well as seven vehicles, $215,000 cash, four guns, two replica guns, and a bulletproof vest.
“This is a significant driver of crime in our communities,” said Burnaby RCMP Chief Supt. Dave Critchley. “Whenever we make seizures like this, we arrest individuals and charge them with trafficking… it reduces the level of street crime.”
The suspects’ names haven’t been released but they are facing 100 charges combined.
Authorities warn that fentanyl can be mixed with any street drug, including marijuana, and that many of the overdoses in B.C. were casual drug users.
On Monday, police and health officials launched a six-month awareness campaign about the dangers of fentanyl. For more information, click here.
