Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Thomas Carrique called the size of the drug busts 'alarming.'Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
The Ontario Provincial Police have seized a total of 43.5 kilograms of fentanyl in two separate investigations, including one that the force says is the largest seizure of the synthetic opioid in its history.
Commissioner Thomas Carrique announced the seizures at OPP headquarters in Orillia on Tuesday, standing next to a table covered in bags of coloured powder and stacks of cash. The force also displayed a seized blue Ferrari.
Speaking at a press conference that was attended by a number of OPP and RCMP officers, Commissioner Carrique called the size of the drug busts “alarming.”
On May 28, police executed search warrants across Southwestern Ontario as part of Project Golden, arresting 15 people who investigators allege were “wholesale suppliers of fentanyl,” and seizing 38-kilograms of fentanyl. Police said they laid 140 criminal charges.
The second operation was dubbed Project Bionic, which was the OPP’s first drug trafficking investigation using the dark web. That investigation resulted in the seizure of 86 packages containing 37 different illicit drugs, including 5.5 kilograms of fentanyl, at a post office in Ottawa that were intended to be shipped across the country, police said, as well as the Ferrari.
Police in the Greater Toronto Area say they have seized 479 kilograms of cocaine and arrested nine people in a transnational drug bust.
The Canadian Press
The dark web is where a growing proportion of drug trafficking is taking place, police said. RCMP Assistant Commissioner Matt Peggs described the internet as “today’s dark alley” – the location of choice for drug deals. Officers across police forces shared intelligence to decode online profiles linked to in-person drug trafficking activities as part of the dark web operation.
Police found the drugs in packages that appeared to be regular mail, destined for eight provinces and Nunavut. Investigators say none of the drugs were destined for the United States.
It’s not unusual for suppliers to use mail courier or Canada Post to send drugs, Detective Superintendent Andy Bradford, director of OPP’s organized crime enforcement bureau, said.
The five-month Project Bionic investigation led to four arrests on weapons, stolen vehicle and drug charges. This marks a step in dismantling organized drug trafficking in Canada, officers said.
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Investigations into the origins of the seized fentanyl in both operations are continuing.
The OPP’s fentanyl seizures follow U.S. President Donald Trump’s accusations that Canada is enabling the flow of drugs across the border and fuelling a national epidemic as a justification for his tariffs.
However, a Globe and Mail investigation found that just 0.74 pounds of fentanyl stopped at the U.S. northern border originated in Canada.
In response to Mr. Trump’s concerns regarding the flow of fentanyl, then-prime minister Justin Trudeau appointed a fentanyl czar – Kevin Brosseau – in February to co-ordinate law enforcement’s response to trafficking of the drug. Mr. Brosseau was not involved in either OPP operation, Commissioner Carrique said.
Drugs and weapons seized as part of Project Bionic.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Illicit fentanyl comes to Canada in two ways, OPP Assistant Detective Inspector Jeffrey Brazeau said: it is either produced domestically using precursor chemicals in clandestine labs or it is imported from other countries.
“I think it’s fair to say that the demand for the product is unprecedented,” he said, pointing to the City of Hamilton’s declaring a state of emergency in April related to opioid addiction. “It is a crisis.”
To disrupt the fentanyl supply chain, the RCMP works with chemical companies to track the movement of precursor ingredients nationally.
RCMP officers raided a drug super lab in October, seizing 54-kilograms of fentanyl and precursor chemicals in B.C., the largest federal drug bust of its kind.
“We also just can’t forget all the devastation in all the communities that this causes,” RCMP Assistant Commissioner Peggs said.
Fentanyl czar focused on combatting opioid trade, despite tariff distraction
Fentanyl, a potent, synthetic opioid meant to relieve severe pain, has been at the forefront of the opioid epidemic in Canada and the U.S. Opioid overdoses are responsible for 21 deaths a day in Canada on average, according to Health Canada.
Also on Tuesday, Peel Regional Police announced the seizure of 479 kilograms of cocaine, which Chief Nishan Duraiappah says marks the largest drug bust in the service’s history. Nine men, all of them from Southern Ontario, have been arrested.
The investigation started in June, 2024, when police say they uncovered a criminal network using commercial trucks to smuggle drugs across the U.S. border into Canada.
In early February, a truck carrying 127 kilograms of cocaine hidden in the trailer was stopped at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, investigators say. Then last month, police seized another 50 kilograms stashed in a truck stopped at the Blue Water Bridge near Sarnia.
Officials say the investigation led to several other drug seizures across the Greater Toronto Area in connection to commercial trucking.
With files from The Canadian Press