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Eight arrested, thousands of deadly pills seized

Richmond raid involved in bid to slash deadly Metro Vancouver fentanyl trade
drugs
Dr. Mark Lysyshyn warns about the dangers of the highly-toxic drug fentanyl during a news conference at Vancouver police headquarters.

Dozens of drug-related charges are expected after a multi-jurisdictional sweep in the Greater Vancouver area resulted in the seizure of more than 29,000 fentanyl pills, along with a huge assortment of other illegal narcotics.

Drug-squad investigators executed 11 search warrants last week in Burnaby, Richmond, Vancouver and North Vancouver, which saw $215,000 in cash and 500,000 illegal pills seized as police moved in on a group they believe has ties to organized crime.

Eight people were arrested and face drug and weapons charges.

Dubbed Project Tainted, RCMP from North Vancouver, Burnaby and the force’s federal policing agency, as well as the Vancouver Police Department, began the investigation following a shooting last year in south Burnaby.

Recent spikes in fentanyl-related overdoses and deaths led the various agencies to work closely to go after the supply of deadly fentanyl.

“Police have delivered a significant blow to the local fentanyl trade,” said Vancouver police Supt. Mike Porteous on Tuesday as he showed off the seized items at a news conference.

He said police and health agencies are warning people that fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is significantly stronger than morphine.

“It is 50 to 100 times more toxic than morphine,” he said. “It’s deadly.”

Of even greater concern is that fentanyl is often being mixed with street drugs such as cocaine, heroin and marijuana to increase their potency. In some cases the pills are marked as being oxycodone when in fact it is fentanyl.

“It can be mixed with a variety of other drugs,” said Porteous, adding that overdoses are not just happening to people who are street-level addicts.

“The overdoses are being seen in all aspects of society,” he said.

In many cases the recreational users who buy these drugs do not even know the product is laced with fentanyl, Porteous said.

“We had a goal and that was to target people who peddle poison in our community,” he said. “We went to the sources and went all the way up.”

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid or painkiller similar to heroin, but more toxic than other narcotics. The substance, which can come from China, accounted for about 25 per cent of the 300 overdose deaths in B.C. last year.

Fentanyl has shown up in liquids, powders and pills, and can be masked in virtually any consumable product.

Fentanyl-laced marijuana, heroin, oxycodone and other party drugs have resulted in the deaths of an unprecedented number of occasional drug users.

The seizure included:

• 7 vehicles

• $215,000 cash

• pill press

• 13,000 oxycodone pills

• 29,000 fentanyl pills

• 147,000 pills believed to be Alprazolam

• 503,000 coloured pills (yet to be analyzed)

• 9.5 kg of crack cocaine

• 5.5 kg of powdered cocaine

• 19.5 kg of marijuana

• 1 kg of methamphetamine

• 3 kg of hash

• .5 kg of heroin

• 2,200 flaps of heroin

• various other drugs including steroids and methamphetamine

• various drug paraphernalia

• 4 guns

• 2 replica guns

• 1 bulletproof vest.

On Monday police and health authorities launched a campaign urging recreational drug users to better understand the risks of fentanyl. For more information on fentanyl go to knowyoursource.ca.

For more stories, go to theprovince.com