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York Regional Police, working in conjunction with the Greater Sudbury Police Service, has laid multiple charges after disrupting a fentanyl trafficking ring, allegedly involving three York residents.
Police say that in Oct. 2015, they started an investigation into an operation where patches of fentanyl, an opioid painkiller considered as much as 100 times more powerful than morphine, were illegally purchased and sent to be sold in Sudbury.
Investigators allege a doctor who owns his own practice in North Toronto, along with one of his employees, were collaborating with street-level drug dealers to fraudulently obtain the drugs in a skin-patch form.
Each patch would sell for between $400 and $500, police say.
On Jan. 20, 2016, police executed search warrants on a hotel room in Vaughan, a pharmacy in Toronto, and several other homes. They found almost 300 fentanyl patches, worth approximately $120,000 on the street, as well as $50,000 in cash, prescription notes and other documents.
Dr. George Otto of Richmond Hill, Shereen El Azrak of Toronto and five other individuals from Vaughan, Toronto and Sudbury have each been charged with trafficking a controlled substance, possession for the purpose of trafficking and conspiracy.
They were all expected to appear in court in Newmarket on Wednesday.
Ontario saw 173 fatal overdoses related to fentanyl in 2014, the last year for which figures are available, though authorities believe the number will be higher in 2015.
Agencies/Canadajournal
