Following two high-level drug seizures in the city of Saint John, the police force says this is just the first of the expected drug seizures in 2023.
Police say they made two arrests after a six-week operation that wrapped up on Tuesday. Cops also seized meth, cash and Percocet while executing a search warrant on the west side on Wednesday.
Saint John Police Force Staff Sgt. Sean Rocca told Global News that funding from the provincial government has allowed the city to put more money into their integrated enforcement unit, which has been taking action on drug and weapon-related seizures.
In the past three months alone, the force has seized a street value of over $250,000 of drugs, in addition to $20,000 in cigarettes, $40,000 in currency and three guns with a cross-bow.
“What you are seeing is more drug investigations, more drug seizures and more weapon seizures as a result of this co-ordinated regional approach,” told Rocca.
“Saint John police has a list of active drug traffic locations.”
Since Aug. 1, 2022, the force has conducted at least seven seizures of drugs through the region and has arrested at least 24 suspects during that time. Rocca noted he expects to see the trend continue.
Of the seized material, illicit fentanyl was at the top, Rocca said. He noted that there had been a sharp increase in the number of overdose calls between 2020 and 2022.
“We’re seizing more fentanyl than we had in the past. We recently announced that medical-related overdose calls are up 39 per cent in 2022 over 2021.”
He noted that the number of medical calls might be associated with the amount of fentanyl the force is seizing on the street.
Police are reminding the public that if they witness suspected drug trafficking, they should call the police or Crime Stoppers.
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