Photo: RCMP - File photo

Fentanyl

More than $1.8 million worth of narcotics was taken of the street in a major Lower Mainland drug bust.

The Vancouver Police Department made the significant seizure as part of Project Trooper, a six-month investigation into a drug trafficking network operating throughout the region.

According to the VPD, police learned in September 2014 the criminal organization was supplying residents of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside with drugs including cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and Fentanyl. 

“The crime group was selling drugs to marginalized members of the community,” writes the VPD. “The criminals were also believed to be shipping large quantities of the drugs to Vancouver Island and into Alberta.”

On March 11, with the assistance of other policing partners, investigators from the Vancouver Police Organized Crime Section executed 11 search warrants throughout Vancouver, New Westminster, Coquitlam, Surrey and Maple Ridge.

“The assistance of Federal Serious Organized Crime and the RCMP in executing the search warrants was essential to the success of the project,” says Supt. Mike Porteous.

Charges are now being recommended against 11 people for drugs and weapons offences.

“Project Trooper is another example of the alliance between law enforcement agencies in the Lower Mainland,” adds Porteous. “We have a common goal, and that is to target violent and dangerous criminals and take them off the street.”

The seizure included the following;

• 20.5 kilograms of cocaine
• 1.6 kilograms of heroin
• 12.2 kilograms of methamphetamine
• 23,000 Fentanyl pills
• 228 kilograms of Phenacetin
• 12 firearms and ammunition including handguns, shotguns, rifles and assault rifles
• One crossbow
• GPS tracking devices
• A radio-jamming device
• Eight vehicles, four with hidden compartments
• And, approximately $575,000 in cash

The VPD warns drug users that Fentanyl continues to show up in liquids, powders and pills, and can be masked in virtually any consumable product. Fentanyl-laced heroin, oxycodone and other party drugs have resulted in the recent deaths of occasional drug users across the province.

On March 2, police and health authorities launched Know Your Source? Be Drug Smart, an awareness campaign designed to educate the public about the dangers of Fentanyl, and encourage those who choose to use, to do so with caution.

For more information about the dangers of Fentanyl, please visit http://knowyoursource.ca.