Raid on Calgary home yields Alberta's 4th-largest fentanyl seizure

Police say they seized more than 3,700fentanylpills when executing search warrants in the Calgary communities of Killarney and Hillhurstin late October.

The largerseizure involved 2,771 pills taken on Oct. 28 from a vehicle parked at a home in the southwest community of Killarney that was identified as "a potentialfentanylstash site" based on an earlier investigation in Lethbridge.

• Alberta 'at best holding steady' against deadly fentanyl crisis, justice minister warns
• Fentanyl drug of choice for almost 50% of addicts, Alberta addictions experts say

That marked the fourth-largest seizure offentanylin Alberta's history, according to police:

• 11,597 Calgary, February 2015
• 3,200 Leduc County, December 2015
• 2,800 FortMcMurray, June 2015
• 2,771 Calgary, October 2016
• 2,000 Edmonton, June 2016
• 1,866 Grande Prairie, October 2014

Police said the home was also being used as a cocaine conversion lab and officers seized 23 grams of cocaine along with 135 grams of a suspected buffing agent from the residence.

Two suspects, aged 24 and 30, were arrested and charged with numerous drug-related offences.

Meanwhile, on Oct. 26, officers searched an apartment in the Hillhurst area and seized 943 fentanylpills.

The target of thatinvestigation was a 22-year-old who was found with 56 fentanyl pills during a traffic stop on Oct. 24.

He has been charged with numerous drug offences as well as breach of recognizance and breach of probation.

The seizures were co-ordinated by the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams, or ALERT,a group that targets organized crime. and includes members of the Calgary Police Service, Edmonton Police Service, Lethbridge Police Service, Medicine Hat Police Service, Alberta Sheriffs and RCMP.