A drug bust at the Port of Vancouver has netted almost four tonnes of the main ingredient used to produce Ecstasy.
Investigators from the Canada Border Services Agency and RCMP intercepted a shipment of what they initially thought was 78 barrels of sodium hydroxide arriving from China.
It turned out to actually contain 3.7 tonnes of MDP2P - the main ingredient used in the production of the club drug Ecstasy.
The bust was made Monday as officers acted on suspicions raised early last month about the incoming shipment.
Supt. Carl Busson, the officer in charge of the RCMP drug enforcement branch in B.C., says the chemical is likely linked to organized crime and criminal groups.
No arrests have been made but Busson predicts the bust will have a significant impact on illegal drug activity.
Officials estimate the chemical could have produced 30 million doses of Ecstasy.
With files from the Canadian Press
