Over 6 Million Amphetamine Pills Worth $32 Million Seized in Drug Bust, Montreal Police Say

A Montreal Police badge is shown during a news conference in Montreal on Oct. 7, 2019. The Canadian Press/Graham Hughes

Montreal police say they seized 6.5 million amphetamine pills during a drug bust on Wednesday morning.

“The police operation resulted in a record seizure of amphetamines estimated at more than $32.5 million,” the SPVM said in a press release on May 26.

In total, 28 searches were conducted in the Greater Montreal area and several regions, including Montreal, Laval, the Laurentians, Montérégie, Centre-du-Québec, and Mauricie.

The SPVM said on May 25 that 280 officers from local and provincial forces were deployed in what they described as a dismantling operation. Several warehouses were searched.

“The targeted facilities served either as an amphetamine production facility, as a storage facility, or both,” police said. “The searches have so far resulted in the arrest of eight suspects.”

Besides the amphetamine pills, SPVM reported seizing 21 firearms, 481 kilograms of methamphetamine powder, 11 kilograms of pure meth, 5,000 ecstasy pills, hundreds of Cialis and Xanax pills, 13 pill press machines, and nearly $300,000 in cash, among other items, in their latest update on May 26.

https://twitter.com/SPVM/status/1529892662928715788

The SPVM said the investigation into the alleged production and trafficking network was initiated last September by their anti-gang squad, part of the organized crime division.

“The police investigation revealed that this major network managed to sell about $5 million worth of amphetamines per week across the province—roughly about 1 million pills per week,” the release said.

The municipal police service said the dismantling of the network will disrupt the activities of criminal organizations.

“The scale of the seizures will deliver a severe blow to organized crime, depriving criminals of an important source of income to finance, among other things, the purchase of firearms,” SPVM said.

The law enforcement agency said their operation will be carried out in two phases.

“The first is the disruption of criminal activities and the multiple searches carried out yesterday,” the police said. “The second phase will aim to make other arrests within the dismantled network, based on evidence gathered.”