Former B. C. MLA’s son charged in drug bust

The son of a former British Columbia member of the legislature has been charged in a fentanyl bust in Calgary last month.

Kasimir Tyabji- Sandana, 27, is charged with one count of importing a controlled substance.

He made a brief appearance via closed circuit television in Calgary court on Monday. He’ll remain in custody until his next court appearance on Sept. 16.

Police intercepted a package marked as a muffler from China last month at Vancouver’s International Mail Centre.

It was addressed to someone in Calgary and contained 122 grams of pure fentanyl, a synthetic opioid used primarily to treat severe pain.

Fentanyl is a growing concern across Canada as the number of deaths and overdoses from the drug continues to climb.

A recent report from the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse said as many as 655 Canadians may have died between 2009- 14 from fentanyl overdoses.

Health Canada’s drug analysis labs have also been detecting fentanyl more and more often in street drugs being sent for testing by law enforcement agencies.

Calgary police say 145 people in Alberta have already died from suspected fentanyl overdoses. Police in Calgary have made 34 fentanyl busts this year compared with 12 in all of 2014.

Tyabji- Santana’s mother, Judi Tyabji, was elected to the B. C. legislature for the Liberal party in 1991 and she was the first woman to have a child while in office.

Tyabji lost custody of her three children, including Kasimir, in 1994 to her ex- husband Kim Sandana.