Two people face charges after fentanyl bust
Police task forces from Saskatchewan and Alberta intercepted shipment
About $50,000 worth of fentanyl, along with other drugs and a shotgun, were seized after a joint investigation by the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams in Edmonton and a Saskatchewan police task force.
“In terms of quantities, it’s certainly not the biggest pill count bust we’ve ever seen,” ALERT spokesman Mike Tucker said Thursday, adding the investigation ran just one month. “We really prioritized public health and public safety. We shut it down as quickly as possible with our colleagues in Regina.”
As a result of the investigation, officers seized the following: 500 fentanyl pills;
20 grams of suspected fentanyl powder;
102 grams of a fentanyl-heroin mix; and
a shotgun with the serial number defaced.
The suspected fentanyl powder was submitted to Health Canada for further analysis.
Tucker said it’s rare to turn up fentanyl pills and powder in a single investigation.
“We’ve done a really good job around awareness of those green pills. We’re starting to even hear about drug dealers moving away from those pills because they don’t want to be subject to enforcement. To see ... pure fentanyl powder, you could potentially manufacture thousands of pills from that.”
Two people were charged in connection with the investigation. Police intercepted a shipment of fentanyl bound for Regina after stopping a vehicle in Lloydminster.
Police believe the operation was supplying the low-level drug trade in the region with fentanyl purchased either in British Columbia or direct from China.
Police also recovered a heroinfentanyl mix known as “pebble” because it looks like a bag of gravel.
“Fentanyl and heroin mix is a new wrinkle,” Tucker said.
Calvin Turcsanyi, 36, of Edmonton was arrested April 7 and charged with three counts of trafficking a controlled substance, three counts of possession of a controlled substance for the purposes of trafficking, five firearms offences and five counts of breach of recognizance.
Crystal Nash, 38, was charged with four firearms offences.