FILE PHOTO - RCMP recovered this pill, suspected to be OxyContin laced with fentanyl, from a warehouse in West Kelowna March 3, 2016.
Image Credit: RCMP
March 04, 2016 - 6:30 PM
KELOWNA – Local RCMP have been taking the fentanyl threat seriously, and have shut down at least five drug operations in the last five months.
In addition to the West Kelowna warehouse that police say contained pill presses, a chemical mixer and massive amounts of fentanyl, police have also executed search warrants in Kelowna and Lake Country, according to a media release.
On Nov. 2, 2015, Kelowna RCMP says they intercepted a package bound for an address on Pandosy Street. It contained just under 25 grams of fentanyl. And on December 17, 2015, police executed a search warrant at a property in the 400 block of Neave Court. There they found an industrial-grade pill press, which investigators say showed signs of use and may have been heavily contaminated with Fentanyl. Police also found a loaded firearm.
A 22-year-old Kelowna woman and a 28-year-old West Kelowna man each face potential charges of importing a schedule six substance, production and possession for the purpose of trafficking as well as possession and unsafe storage of a firearm in connection with the Neave Court raid.
The day before the West Kelowna warehouse was taken down on March 2, RCMP executed search warrants at properties on the 11000 block of Cemetary Road in Lake Country and the 300 block of Sandpiper Road in Kelowna.
“These searches yielded various amounts and types of illegal drugs, several firearms, including a loaded .45 calibre hand gun, multiple stolen bicycles and a set of brass knuckles,” Const. Jesse O’Donaghy says in the release.
He says a 56-year-old Lake Country man faces potential charges of trafficking in a controlled substance as well as a firearms related offence.
FILE PHOTO - HazMat was called in to help police search a warehouse in West Kelowna March 3, 2016. Similar raids have also been conducted in Kelowna and Lake Country over the last five months.
(ADAM PROSKIW / iNFOnews.ca)
To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infonews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2016