THUNDER BAY – Police say they’ve taken $115,000 worth of narcotics off the streets of Thunder Bay.
Most disturbing in the cache recovered was the presence of heroin, said Staff Sgt. Ryan Gibson on Monday, three days after police stormed a Leland Avenue apartment building and arrested a pair of out-of-town suspects after allegedly locating the drugs inside an apartment unit.
It's a rare find, Gibson said.
"We don't see a lot of heroin up this way, fortunately," Gibson said. "And I hope we don't see it again. It's a horrible drug with some significant sentencing provisions in the criminal code if you're caught with it." Gibson said the bust will impact the local drug supply, part of a plan to put a dent into the narcotics trade in Thunder Bay.
"It's a significant amount of drugs and narcotics we seized off them. We know we're never going to stop it, we just want to disrupt it and discourage those individuals from coming here.
The arrests come a week after police promised a crackdown on drug dealers parachuting into the city from larger centres like Toronto and Montreal.
"In this case we have been seeing an up-tick with our out-of-town drug dealers coming this way because of the profits they can make in our areas.
"What we're trying to hammer home to them is that we are going to focus on you -- as well as anyone who decides to deal narcotics in our community. The concern with some of these groups is the amount of violence they bring and that they're associated with."
Gibson said many of those involved belong to or work with dangerous gangs in the Greater Toronto Area.
"We don't want them here, honestly. And if they're going to come here, we're going to do our best to disrupt their activities, arrest them and put them before the courts."
A 24-year-old male suspect from Toronto was arrested in the bust, along with a 24-year-old female from the Edmonton area. Both were charged with a number of drug trafficking offences as well as violating previous probation and recognizance orders.
In addition to the heroin, the police gang and drugs unit also seized what they believe to be fentanyl pills disguised as Oxycontin, cocaine and crack cocaine. An undisclosed amount of cash was also recovered.
