ENGLISH
The tablets were simply mailed to customers in the United States and in western Canada. "This is a trend that we see more and more in the case of synthetic drugs and counterfeit drugs: people send it in the mail," confirmed the Staff Sergeant Christian Knight, RCMP , who attended the Laval police in their investigation.
The police paraded at a press conference no less than 1.4 million counterfeit tablets of the approximately 2 million seized so far.
Laval police said he learned last summer that suspicious amounts of pills were sent from Laval postal outlets. A quick survey revealed a very effective criminal organization established on the South Shore, which manufactured tablets of alprazolam. This drug also known as trade name Xanax is sold on pharmacy prescription to relieve anxiety, but some people make recreational use. He is known to cause heavy dependence.
At mistaken
The seized tablets bore the mention Xanax and resembled nothing so much as the real thing. They were presented as multivitamins or other innocuous products when they were mailed to customers, both from Laval, Montreal or even Toronto.
Nine searches took place this week with the help of the Longueuil Police and RCMP in five residential and four commercial premises. A tablet warehouse has notably been unearthed on the boulevard Marie-Victorin in Brossard, and a clandestine laboratory was discovered on the road to the airport in Saint-Mathieu-de-Beloeil.
Five tablet presses, a device to count tablets, a machine to count bank notes, three handguns, a bulletproof vest, an industrial mixer and $ 200,000 in cash were seized. The investigation continues and the DEA, the US federal drug agency was informed of the case.
Besides the Davidson brothers Simon and Christian, whose father had shaken the Quebec justice system by trying to sell information to the Mafia after leaving Montreal police, three other suspects are accused in the case. This is Georges El Ashkar, 26, his brother Fadi El Ashkar, 24, both of Longueuil and Arden McCann, 27, also from the South Shore.
They remain detained pending their bail hearing.
Warning to consumers
Even if the tablets were destined for export, "we can not rule out there to be outstanding in Quebec," said Chief Inspector Dany Gagnon of Laval police, who warns the potential consumers.
"This type of pills and other synthetic drugs are made of a mixture of chemicals and products produced in the traditional way in clandestine laboratories by criminal organizations. The user therefore has no idea what he consumes or the actual dose that is absorbed, "he explains.
Knew the US would get involved... Fuck the DEA. It's our body, let us do what we want to do with it no matter if that means only drinking wine or plugging opiates.