Police have seized a record 35,321 pills with an estimated street value of $706,000 in what officers are calling the largest fentanyl pill seizure in Calgary’s history and one of the largest in Alberta.
The month-long operation targeted a home in the city’s affluent Bankview neighbourhood and also recovered body armour, loaded guns and a crossbow.
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Police said the investigation started with information from the public.
“We believe the accused…was involved in a large-scale operation distributing fentanyl as well as other drugs that is a huge issue in our city today,” Acting Insp. Mark Hatchette said Thursday, adding a processing lab for transforming powder cocaine into crack cocaine was also found in the home.
Search warrants were executed on Dec. 23 on a home in the 2300 block of Richmond Road S.W. A nearby vehicle that had been reported stolen from Strathmore was also searched.
Watch below: Weapons seized in fentanyl bust ‘loaded, ready to go’, say police
Police said the accused was found inside one of the bedrooms and reached for a shotgun, trying to flee during the arrest.
“It is very concerning to know there are weapons involved in these types of drug offences,” Hatchette said. “These weapons were loaded, ready to go; assault-style shotguns as well as a handgun.
“The handgun was located in the kitchen, where most of the drugs were also found, indicating that should anyone inside that residence be threatened by anyone else…that they would use these weapons. It’s very concerning to us and to the public.”
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More than $40,000 in cocaine, $22,000 in methamphetamine and about $9,000 in heroin was also recovered from the southwest home, as well as varying amounts of marijuana, MDMA, oxycodone tablets, morphine and nearly 70 “undetermined” pills, police said.
Hatchette said the presence of fentanyl is indicative of the “new-style drug” trying to take hold in Calgary.
“We see it in our overdoses and our other types of issues surrounding social disorder based on drug use and addiction. Once again, this individual that was arrested preyed on addictions and dependency and we will no longer tolerate this type of behaviour.”
Watch below: Calgary police showed off drugs, weapons, and $37,000 in cash seized during a Dec. 23 raid at a home being used for processing drugs.
Seven guns were inside the home, including 12-gauge shotguns, two rifles, and a handgun.
Hatchette said the handgun isn’t listed as stolen or registered to anyone. Investigators believe it was smuggled into Canada illegally.
“We do have indications through some of the indicia that we located to indicate this was high level and not drugs produced in Calgary,” he said. “This was brought in from another area and that’s another investigation we will be actively following up.”
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A search of a stolen 2011 Jeep Compass turned up an additional $37,115 in cash.
Calgary resident David Hillson Pratico, 31, is facing more than two dozen drug and weapons-related offences, including the production of crack cocaine. He was known to police.
Hatchette said there was no indication of any fentanyl production at the residence, which police believe to be a rental unit.
Watch below: Calgary resident David Hillson Pratico, 31, is facing more than two dozen drug and weapons-related offences, including the production of crack cocaine.
With files from Erika Tucker