Fentanyl bust results in charges against Calgary man
Kasimir Tyabji, 27, son of former B.C. MLA Judi Tyabji, arrested in Calgary
A 27-year-old Calgary man — who is the son of a former B.C. MLA — has been charged with importing a controlled substance after border guards found fentanyl in a parcel meant for a Calgary address.
Kasimir Tyabji-Sandana, 27, of Calgary, made a brief court appearance on August 17 and was ordered back in court on September 16 to consider a bail application. He remains in custody.
Here's some picture of fentanyl at Calgary Police HQ. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbc?src=hash">#cbc</a> <a href="http://t.co/i2PTh2OFcu">pic.twitter.com/i2PTh2OFcu</a>
—@browncbcThe investigation began on July 14, when a border agent at the Vancouver International Mail Centre intercepted a parcel declared as a muffler. The agent discovered a white powder suspected to be fentanyl and sent it to a lab for confirmation.
RCMP then worked with Calgary police to further the investigation, resulting in Tyabji-Sandana's arrest on July 22, when 122 grams of fentanyl was seized, with an estimated value of $348,000.
Son of former B.C. MLA Judi Tyabji
Tyabji-Sandana's mother Judi Tyabji was the youngest MLA in the B.C. Legislature when she was elected in 1991 and went on to become the first woman to have a child while in office.
But her subsequent affair with then-leader Gordon Wilson rocked the party in 1993. The pair went on to marry and founded a new party, the Progressive Democratic Alliance, which folded after the 1996 election.
Tyabji lost custody of her three children in 1994 to her ex-husband Kim Sandana.
She is currently an environmental activist and president of the Pebble In the Pond Environmental Society, a community group dedicated to the reduction of plastic garbage waste.
When CBC reached Wilson on Thursday, he said neither he nor his wife would be commenting on the arrest. Tyabji could not be reached directly for comment.
Fentanyl seizures on the rise
Calgary police have seen 34 incidents involving fentanyl seizures in 2015, compared to just 12 in 2014. Fatalities attributed to the drug have also increased dramatically.
Police and health officials are trying to raise awareness of the harmful drug and alerting casual drug users, as well as entrenched addicts, that fentanyl is often disguised or mixed with other drugs, and can be fatal in small doses.