Police arrest 5 people in connection with pair of overdose deaths
This is the 3rd raid in about a month related to a recent spike in drug overdoses
Montreal police say they have arrested five people in connection with two recent drug overdoses.
On Aug. 25, the bodies of two men were found in a car parked at a downtown Montreal gas station. At the time, police said they believed the men died of a drug overdose.
On Wednesday, police carried out eight raids in Laval and the Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles and Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve boroughs, and arrested five people.
In the raids, police seized:
- 258 grams of heroin.
- 89 grams of yet-to-be identified opioids.
- 129 grams of marijuana.
- 11 grams of amphetamines.
- $18,815 (CDN).
- $220 (USD).
The five people have been detained and are expected to appear in court this afternoon.
This is the third raid in about a month related to a recent spike in drug overdoses that Montreal police have publicized.
In a news release, police say they are treating narcotics files "on a priority basis."
In both previous raids, police seized quantities of the powerful painkiller fentanyl, either pure or mixed with other drugs.
Dr. Carole Morissette, the doctor in charge of the fentanyl crisis response with Montreal Public Health, recently called fentanyl's growing presence in the city a "public health emergency."