THUNDER BAY — Drugs, weapons and a loaded gun were seized by police during a recent search warrant.
Police received information about suspected drug trafficking in April and began an investigation.
On Tuesday, officers from the intelligence and emergency task units raided a home on Victoria Avenue East using several search warrants.
Officers found what is believed to be cocaine, crack cocaine and oxycodone.
Det. Insp. Jeremy Pearson spoke to the media on Thursday and remains concerned with the drugs and weapons being taken off city streets.
"I hesitate to even call it a new concern for our community because it has been prevalent for a number of years, but it remains jarring to see this sort of device in the community in the hands of those who are involved in the illicit drug trade."
Pearson acknowledged the amount of drugs in this single seizure is significant.
"I would argue that this is project-level seizures in terms of the amounts that we're taking in and, of course, with the associated firearm. Here, this is a single investigation.
"This is a tremendous amount of potential damage and destruction in the community that has been taken off the streets again by a one-off investigation."
He believes these drugs were destined to be sold within the city.
Pearson added that many know the dangers of drugs, especially fentanyl, and this amount could've been detrimental to many people in Thunder Bay.
"We have a number of fatal overdoses that exceeds far beyond the provincial standard and the provincial average. Most of those related to opioids and fentanyl is, of course, one of the most dangerous of those."
While not an expert on deadly amounts, Pearson believes this amount of fentanyl could be quite deadly.
"So if we were to take, and again, I'm not stating that this is a medical fact — but if we take a standard analysis of fentanyl being potentially fatal at a dose of 2 mg, we're looking at 100,000 fatal doses that were seized in this one search warrant."
Investigators located a 29-year-old male from Brampton, who was arrested at the scene. The suspect is known to have been arrested in Thunder Bay on previous drug-related charges.
Police had a secondary location on Albany Street that was also searched a short time later, where a loaded gun was found along with more suspected cocaine, fentanyl and cash. The handgun was not available during the media announcement as it was still being processed for evidence.
In total, investigators collected close to a kilogram of cocaine and 200 grams of crack cocaine and fentanyl. The estimated street value of the drugs is $200,000, with approximately $10,000 in Canadian cash seized.
The suspect is facing seven charges and has been remanded into custody with a future court date.
Katie Nicholls is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter with Newswatch
