Canadian criminals are not dumping large amounts of illegally manufactured fentanyl into the United States, the RCMP says, refuting president-elect Donald Trump’s accusation that significant amounts of the drug are crossing the border聽from Canada.
Canadian-made fentanyl that goes to the U.S. is largely being exported in 鈥渕icro shipments, most often through the mail,鈥 RCMP spokesperson Charlotte Hibbard told the Star, noting “micro traffickers” are most often found on the dark web.
鈥淕enerally, reports do not indicate that Canada is trafficking significant amounts of fentanyl into the U.S.,鈥 the RCMP told the Star.
Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press file photo鈥淎s everyone is aware, thousands of people are pouring through Mexico and Canada, bringing Crime and Drugs at levels never seen before,鈥澛燚onald Trump聽聽in November, singling out fentanyl in particular.听Trump has said he’s looking at imposing 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian products coming into the U.S. as a result of lax border security.听
In December, the Canada Border Services Agency announced that it intercepted 4.9 kg of fentanyl from January to October 2024, a significant increase聽over the same time period in 2023. This amount included 4.1 kg that was bound for the Netherlands, the CBSA stated. That left 0.8 kg headed for the rest of the world, including the U.S.
鈥淕enerally, reports do not indicate that Canada is trafficking significant amounts of fentanyl into the U.S.,鈥 Hibbard said.
Meanwhile,聽some of the chemicals used to make the powerful opiate fentanyl in Canada enter the country via the U.S. and Mexico, the RCMP told the Star. The chemicals are originally produced mostly in China and India.
Several countries in Asia and the Americas (including the U.S. and Mexico) are regularly being used as trans-shipment routes to facilitate the entry of these chemicals into Canada, Hibbard said.
Seizures of large amounts of these chemicals suggests large-scale manufacture of illegal drugs inside Canada, the RCMP said.
鈥淭his trend is based on the number of illicit drug production sites identified by the RCMP and other law enforcement agencies, as well as significant seizures of precursor chemicals at different Canadian ports of entry,鈥 Hibbard said.
Last October, the RCMP said they dismantled the largest illicit 鈥渟uperlab鈥 in Canada鈥檚 history that was tucked in the mountains in tiny Falkland, B.C., east of Kamloops.
Much of the fentanyl and methamphetamine produced at the Falkland site was destined for international markets, .听
鈥淭he quantities of precursors seized during investigations confirms that these illicit production facilities are capable of producing multi kilograms of fentanyl in a single production cycle,鈥 Hibbard said.
The RCMP is treating the illicit fentanyl trade as 鈥渙ne of the most significant criminal threats to public safety in Canada,鈥 Hibbard said.
鈥淚ts intelligence and investigative efforts target all aspects of the illicit drug market to disrupt the involvement of key transnational serious organized crime groups in the production, trafficking, and sale of drugs, such as fentanyl.鈥
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