Suspected fentanyl lab leads to raid in Montreal North
Montreal police raided a vacant store in Montreal North on Sunday in connection with an ongoing investigation into an "active organization" suspected of producing synthetic drugs.
Const. Manuel Couture says investigators believe Éric Tremblay, a 41-year-old who was charged Saturday with drug trafficking and production of synthetic drugs, often visited the store on Monselet Street.
Investigators wearing hazmat suits searched the location this morning, but Couture says no dangerous chemicals were found.
On Saturday, police dismantled a clandestine drug lab in an industrial section of Dorval, which they suspect was set up for the manufacturing of fentanyl, a powerful opioid responsible for a wave of fatal overdoses across the country.
They also searched Tremblay's home in Laval.
Couture says Quebec provincial police are assisting with the ongoing investigation.
Fentanyl is estimated to be 80 times as powerful as morphine and hundreds of times more powerful than heroin, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Health officials in Quebec City said earlier this month 11 people have overdosed, three fatally, after ingesting the narcotic in recent months.
