Edmonton police have laid a number of charges against a man and a woman, after an extensive investigation into the trafficking of certain drugs.
Police said officers surrounded a northeast Edmonton home Tuesday, after a woman was spotted unloading boxes containing gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), and taking them into her home.
That home was searched, and inside, police found 106 litres of GHB, in addition to a kilogram of soft cocaine, half a kilogram of hard cocaine and paraphernalia related to converting and packaging cocaine.
It’s estimated the street value of the GHB is about $212,000, or $1,000 per 500 ml bottle. Meanwhile, the cocaine has an estimated street value of $80,000.
Investigators were shocked at the amount of GHB seized in this case; it’s believed it may be the largest GHB seizure in the province’s history.
“The significance of this seizure is that we’ve never seen this much GHB in Alberta, that I’m aware of,” Staff Sgt. Carlos Cardoso said Friday.
GHB is one drug referred to as a date rape drug, and it’s grown in popularity in the past few years with young partiers.
“It causes short-term amnesia, so some people under the influence of it will not remember what has occurred,” Detective Guy Pilon said.
Consuming a small amount would cause the user to appear to be extremely intoxicated, and to have more than that, or to have it along with alcohol, can make for a fatal combination.
“What happens if you take alcohol, and you mix GHB, each of those drugs exacerbate the effects of the other and the effects can be fatal,” Det. Pilon said.
As a result, Nicholas Harris, 31, and Negin Bahmani, 24, are each facing three counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking, and cocaine conversion.
Investigators said Harris also had about $15,000 in cash with him at the time of his arrest, that money was also seized.
With files from David Ewasuk
