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After drug arrests, Victoria police find carfentanil mixed with heroin

Victoria police have seized the deadly opioid carfentanil — a drug 100 times more potent than fentanyl — for the first time. VicPD drug expert Staff Sgt.

Victoria police have seized the deadly opioid carfentanil — a drug 100 times more potent than fentanyl — for the first time.

VicPD drug expert Staff Sgt. Conor King used the department’s new negative-pressure drug-processing room to scan drug samples seized after two men were arrested in Langford on Aug. 2. He found a combination of heroin and carfentanil.

“There were over 900 overdose deaths in B.C. in 2016, and fentanyl played a part in many of those,” King said. “While we were aware carfentanil may have already been here, this drug seizure confirms it.”

The arrest was made as part of a joint investigation by Victoria police and West Shore RCMP.

Mounties stopped the vehicle the men were in on Goldstream Avenue. As part of their search, officers seized a satchel. In it, they found cash, drug paraphernalia, brass knuckles and drugs — marijuana, just over a half kilogram of cocaine mixed with fentanyl, methamphetamine mixed with fentanyl, and a small packet of what turned out to be heroin mixed with carfentanil.

King said the new equipment, which includes an ion scanner and a vacuum fume hood and is worth $70,000, is becoming more common in B.C. police departments as first responders battle the fentanyl epidemic.

The equipment breaks down and identifies the various chemicals in a sample.

Officers handling the drug must wear goggles, gloves and protective clothing to avoid inhaling small particles.

“Victoria, along with Vancouver and Surrey, we are the epicentre of the fentanyl epidemic for all of Canada, and so our agency has been very rigorous in getting the best equipment as fast as we possibly can,” King said.

He said he suspected carfentanil was in Victoria, because it has shown up in drug tests carried out at medical facilities.

Nanaimo RCMP seized carfentanil during a raid in February, the first time it was found on Vancouver Island.

The drug is used to sedate large animals such as elephants and can be deadly to humans in minuscule amounts.

One of the men arrested remains in custody and the other has been released on a promise to appear in court.

kderosa@timescolonist.com