OPP seizes 43.5 kg of fentanyl in what police call record-breaking drug bust
Ontario Provincial Police announced Tuesday that it has seized the largest amount of fentanyl in the force's history through two major investigations.
Police confiscated approximately 43.5 kilograms of fentanyl through two months-long investigations, Project Bionic and Project Golden, according to an OPP news release.
At a news conference in Orillia, Ont., OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique said the apprehended fentanyl amount is the equivalent of roughly 435,000 potentially lethal street-level doses.
"To put that in perspective, a population of 435,000 would be the fifth-largest urban population centre in the province of Ontario," said Carrique.
Carrique said there's "no indication" the fentanyl was destined for the United States or any other country.
"I don't want us to be distracted by the narrative of fentanyl going from Canada into the U.S., and take away from the significant public safety concern around fentanyl," said Carrique.
Nearly 20 people were arrested between the two investigations, with over 200 combined charges laid, police said.
Police said Project Golden, spanned 11 months and involved a multi-jurisdictional drug trafficking network, affecting communities across southwestern Ontario.
The investigation resulted in the seizure of approximately 38 kilograms of fentanyl, which provincial police said is OPP's largest fentanyl seizure to date. The estimated street value of the drugs seized is $5.4 million, police said.
Police said officers also captured three guns, three vehicles, brass knuckles and more than $121,000.
OPP said 15 people from across southern Ontario were arrested in connection with that investigation. They are facing a combined 140 charges.
The other investigation, Project Bionic, spanned five months and aimed to dismantle an operation using a so-called "dark web marketplace" to ship drugs across Canada.
"This investigation into the use of the dark web for drug trafficking is a first of its kind for the OPP," said Carrique.
Police said the investigation revealed that orders would be placed through the dark web marketplace, then packaged and shipped to locations across Canada using various courier services and Canada Post.
On March 10, members from OPP's organized crime enforcement bureau arrested two individuals at a postal service location in Ottawa where 86 packages were received containing various illicit drugs ready to be shipped across the country, police said.
On the same day, officers also raided three homes and a vehicle, seizing approximately $95,000, a gun and two stolen cars valued at more than $400,000, police said. Officers also seized large quantities of drugs valued at $2.5 million and a number of items used in car thefts.
In a second raid later that month, police said they recovered 11 stolen vehicles valued at $730,000.
Police said four people from Ottawa were arrested and are facing 85 charges in connection with that investigation.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hamilton Spectator
2 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
OPP respond to multiple motorcycle crashes amid Friday the 13th rally
Multiple crashes involving motorcyclists Friday spurred Ontario Provincial Police to appeal for drivers to be more cautious. The collisions — which left at least two seriously injured — came as thousands of bikers descended on Port Dover for the famous Friday the 13th rally, which brings motorcyclists across Ontario, Quebec and the northeastern U.S. to the lakeside town annually. More than 100,000 attended last year. 'Please make sure that your head's on a swivel,' Sgt. Ed Sanchuk said in a video posted to social media around 5:30 p.m., just after a crash at St. John's Road and Highway 6 left a biker with minor injuries. 'You're paying attention to your surroundings, putting all the distractions away and just focusing on driving your motorcycle or motor vehicle.' Sanchuk said this was the sixth motorcycle-involved crash West Region OPP responded to Friday. Earlier in the day, around 1:30 p.m., Sanchuk taped a clip from Highway 6 and Concession Road 2, where a collision between two motorcycles sent one biker to hospital with serious, non-life-threatening injuries. The other biker — who Sanchuk said was also injured — fled the scene in a black Harley Davidson with damage to its right side. Police are encouraging him to turn himself in. Meanwhile, Burlington OPP also had calls stemming from the motorcycle rally, responding to a serious crash near Highway 6 and Haldibrook Road around 4:20 p.m. According to Sgt. Kerry Schmidt, a motorcyclist collided with an SUV making a turn in the path of rider. Dave Thompson, Hamilton paramedic commander, said a man in his 40s was taken to hospital in critical condition following the crash. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Former Postal Service employees charged in $80M fraud scheme
Federal authorities in Philadelphia apprehended and charged four individuals accused of executing a multimillion-dollar postal fraud scheme. The suspects allegedly orchestrated a plot to steal and resell U.S. Treasury checks. According to a superseding indictment, the operation spanned from June 2023 to September 2024, during which time Tauheed Tucker, 23, and Saahir Irby, 27, both employed as U.S. Postal Service mail processing clerks at the Philadelphia Processing and Distribution Center, reportedly stole thousands of envelopes containing U.S. Treasury checks from mail sorting machines. The checks were then allegedly sold to two other defendants. Investigators contend that Cory Scott, 25, and Alexander Telewoda, 25, advertised the stolen financial instruments via Telegram, a cloud-based instant messaging app, where they found interested buyers nationwide. They mailed the checks to buyers, who attempted to cash them without the knowledge of people to whom the checks had been originally issued. The combined face value of the stolen Treasury checks exceeded $80 million. Scott's and Telewoda's customers managed to collect approximately $11 million worth of these stolen checks at financial faces an additional charge related to another mail theft incident in August 2024. If convicted, Irby could be sentenced to up to 25 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Tucker, Scott, and Telewoda each face potential 20-year sentences and $750,000 fines. The investigation was a concerted effort involving the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General, United States Postal Inspection Service, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, and the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General. Local law enforcement agencies also assisted in the investigation. Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch. Union rancor rises as Canada Post balks at arbitrationCanada Post, mail carriers remain far apart on contract as talks resume Canada Post makes 'final' offer for labor deal amid growing losses The post Former Postal Service employees charged in $80M fraud scheme appeared first on FreightWaves.
Hamilton Spectator
a day ago
- Hamilton Spectator
‘I was scared,' says witness who, at 15, dated serial predator
Editor's Note: The following article contains language and details about sexual violence that readers may find disturbing. A Kingston, Ontario, court presided over by Justice Robyn A. Ryan Bell is hearing the details of Michael Haaima's relationship with a 15-year-old girl when he was 20 years old. On the afternoon of Monday, Jun. 9, 2025, the judge-only trial continued with assistant Crown attorney Holly Chiavetti calling Witness Four. The neatly dressed 33-year-old woman explained that she had been living in a rural community near Kingston in 2007 when she met Haaima. Only one of Haaima's 98 charges is related to this witness: one count of sexual exploitation. In Canada, the legal age of consent for non-exploitative sexual activity had been 14 until 2008, when it was raised to 16 through Bill C-22. Although the legislation was introduced in 2006 and received approval in 2007, it officially came into effect on January 1, 2008. The law included a 'close-in-age' exemption, permitting 14- and 15-year-olds to engage in sexual activity with partners who are up to five years older. Meanwhile, the age of consent for exploitative relationships, such as those involving authority or trust, remained at 18. In 2007, Witness Four was a 15-year-old in Grade 10 at a Kingston high school. She described a life of 'teenage shenanigans,' 'hanging out with friends,' doing chores on the farm, 'playing in the woods, bouncing on a trampoline.' She also included 'getting high' on cannabis in her list of activities. She was working at a Kingston fast food restaurant when she was introduced to Haaima by co-workers, who were his roommates. She spent time with them at his home in the west end of Kingston, smoking weed, which he supplied. The witness testified that she knew at the time Haaima was 20-something and that he was also aware of her age. She described Haaima as tall and fit, 'funny, charming, handsome, and silly.' 'But I was also aware that he was engaging in sexual activity with the roommates,' she said, stating that she wasn't interested in that. Eventually, she went on, 'He was like, 'I want to be with you.'' He told her he would be with her exclusively. 'Then we started dating,' she said, and it became a sexual relationship. 'What were your thoughts about the age gap?' Chiavetti asked. 'I didn't really think it mattered,' the witness replied. 'I was like, 'It's fine, I'm grown up. I've got this. Age is a number.'' Looking back on that time, she said, her thoughts had changed. 'I would not let my daughter date somebody with that big [of] an age difference… Now that I am almost 34 and I look back at myself at 15, I was not grown up and I was not mature, as I thought. I didn't know what a healthy relationship was,' the woman testified. She said she had put her experiences with Haaima in the past, until the day the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) called her in 2022. She described Haaima in 2007 as unemployed and not attending school, making money 'selling weed.' During the course of the eight- to 12-month relationship, he provided her with 'lots of weed,' alcohol, and expensive gifts. 'Everything we did was on his dime,' she said, including food and entertainment. She used cannabis constantly throughout the day, all provided by Haaima. One night after a significant fight between the two of them, Witness Four said, Haaima called her, threatening to take his own life if she didn't come to him. She testified that she took a taxi from her home to his in the middle of the night because she was 'scared, and concerned for his well-being... He had confided to me at a different time that he had made a suicide attempt.' She said she felt he 'needed' her. She testified that on another occasion, a close male friend at her high school abruptly began avoiding her. At first, she thought it was because the friend owed Haaima money for cannabis, since that is what Haaima had told her. She testified that she approached her friend and suggested she could pay his debt. However, the friend said that was not the reason he was avoiding her; it was because Haaima had told him to stay away from her. She only recalled one sexual encounter with Haaima that became uncomfortable. 'It was hurting and I was saying, 'OK, it hurts, stop,' and he didn't stop, and I was asking him over again to stop,'' the witness testified. Finally, she said, she kicked him in the chest to get him off her. Eventually, the relationship ended because she found out Haaima was cheating on her. Cross-examination by Haaima's defence attorney, Natasha Calvinho, began amicably. On one occasion when the witness was absent, having been asked to leave during legal discussions over an objection, Calvinho described the witness as 'lovely.' However, the tone changed when heavy questioning of the witness probed into the previously mentioned fight —- which Calvinho described as 'the bong incident' —- that the witness said turned into a threatened suicide attempt. Calvinho suggested that the witness was in a loving relationship with Haaima, who presented himself as vulnerable and thoughtful:'So we talked now about beginning of your relationship, how you're feeling about how things are going... You'd agree with me: in relationships, people fight?... And I don't mean necessarily physical, but there can be verbal disagreements about things?' 'I agree,' the witness answered. 'Human nature: two people, despite how much you might have loved each other —- you're not always going to agree on everything, right? From time to time your partner is going to piss you off, right?' the defence continued, Again, the witness agreed. Calvinho continued, 'Over the course of your relationship with Mike... the only thing you could come up with was the bong incident, correct?' The witness replied, 'Yeah, it wasn't just a, you know, fight. It wasn't just mad. I was scared, right? I don't think that's a normal part of a relationship.' According to the witness, the fight began when Haaima unexpectedly said he was leaving the apartment one night to go to the bar with friends without her. She said she was scared to be left alone because the apartment wasn't self-contained, and others from the house could come into his part of the home at will. The witness described Haaima insisting she stay at his home alone and wait. She said she called a friend and prepared to leave with her. On the way out she picked up her plastic bong (smoking device) and was about to leave when Haaima called her a 'cunt' and came after her. She threw the bong at him and fled to her friend's waiting car. She described her departure as 'booking it' (running) because Haaima chased her up the stairs and out of the house. 'Thank God my friend was there,' she said. Calvinho suggested the witness had been angry and jealous, not scared. 'You were angry because he was going out,' she said. Calvinho then pointed to a police interview three years ago, in which the witness had described the bong incident without saying she was 'afraid.' The witness stood firm, explaining that police had not questioned her motives for leaving. Calvinho suggested that since the woman was underage at the time, 'That upsets you, that you can't go with them' to the bar. 'Yeah, because I was a fucking child,' the witness said in an exasperated tone. The trial continues Wednesday, Jun. 11, 2025. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
