A clandestine counterfeit drug laboratory was dismantled in Drummondville, announced the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and several hundred thousand pale blue pills were seized.
RCMP officers went to a home in Drummondville, a municipality in the Centre-du-Québec region, on Thursday to conduct searches. The residence was likely used to manufacture counterfeit pharmaceutical tablets, the RCMP said.
The federal police force also seized large quantities of chemicals used in the manufacture of illicit tablets, a tablet press and sophisticated equipment enabling large-scale production.
During its investigation, which began in May 2024, the Federal Police’s Joint Organized Crime Unit found blue tablets that looked like oxycodone, a powerful painkiller, and were marked M/30. However, laboratory analysis showed that, unlike the original medication, the counterfeit tablets contained protonitazepyne, a synthetic opioid that is about 25 times more powerful than fentanyl.
The tablets seized in Drummondville on Thursday will have to be analyzed to verify whether they also contain protonitazepyne.
Photo: Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Several hundred thousand pale blue stamps were seized by the federal police force.
Three other residences located in Sherbrooke and Dixville, in Estrie, were searched as part of the operation.
Four individuals were arrested and could later face charges under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, including production and possession of controlled substances for the purpose of trafficking.
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