Calgary police make record seizure of fentanyl

Extended: CPS seizes 35,321 fentanyl pills Acting Inspector Mark Hatchette discusses Friday's search of a SW home that led to the seizure of a significant quantity of street drugs.

Police have made the largest seizure of fentanyl in the city’s history after a raid on a southwest Calgary home.

On December 23, police executed search warrants on a home in the 2300 block of Richmond Road S.W. and a vehicle found nearby, reported stolen out of Strathmore and bearing a stolen licence plate.

Inside the home, members of the Strategic Enforcement Unit as well as the Tactical Team found a man inside one of the bedrooms. He was reaching for a shotgun when police arrested him.

A search of the home discovered:

Police also found 70 tablets of a drug that has yet to be determined.

Officers also found a cache of weapons in the home, including three shotguns, two rifles, a handgun and a crossbow. Various amounts of ammunition for the guns and body armour were also seized.

All of the guns were loaded and placed throughout the house.

Acting Inspector Mark Hatchette says that that fact is especially concerning.

"These weapons were loaded, ready to go; assault-style shotguns, as well as a handgun. The handgun was located in the kitchen, where most of the drugs were also found, indicating that, should anyone inside that residence be threatened by anyone else attempting to steal the product or the police that they would use these weapons. It's very concerning to us, very concerning to the public."

A search of the vehicle discovered $37,115 in cash.

David Hillson Pratico, 31, has been charged in connection with the incident. He faces more than two dozen drug and weapons offences.

The fentanyl seizure is the largest ever recorded in Calgary and one of the largest in Alberta.

But just because this is the largest seizure, Hatchette says it is unlikely the last they will hear about the drug.

"It's definitely not the end of what we call a new style of drug that is trying to take hold. We see it in our overdoses and we see it in our other types of issues surrouding social disorder."

Hatchette says that the find is significant because the drugs were brought in from elsewhere and were not produced at the home.

"Because of the fact that this is the largest seizure, I'm automatically going to say this is high level. We do have some indications that this was high level and this was not drugs that were produced in Calgary. They were brought in from another area and that is another investigation that we will be actively following up."