Suspects arrested after allegedly exporting opioids from Montreal to U.S. via Dark Web

A man uses a computer keyboard in Toronto, Monday, Oct. 9, 2023 in this photo illustration. (Graeme Roy/The Canadian Press)

Police say four suspects in Quebec have been arrested for their alleged ties to a drug trafficking network that exported carfentanil from Montreal to the U.S. via the Dark Web.

The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) said its anti-organized crime squad made the arrests Wednesday morning following a joint investigation between the police force’s cybercrime unit, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The investigation started in January 2025.

The suspects are Darren McAlpine of Delson, Que., Geneva Fournier of Châteauguay, Que., as well as Wanya Nathan Ellis and Cheyanne Buchanan-Dennis, who are both from Sainte-Catherine, Que.

They face charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking, drug trafficking, and possession of a prohibited weapon.

The arrests followed a series of searches on Dec. 17, 2025, when officers seized more than 600,000 tablets (methamphetamines, methonitazene, MDMA, and benzodiazepines), cannabis, cocaine, “instruments used for trafficking on the Dark Web,” brass knuckles, a loaded 9 mm firearm, and several 9 mm cartridges, the SQ said in a news release.

They also seized 81 litres of liquid protonitazene — the same drug that was part of a warning earlier this month from Montreal’s public health department.

• READ MORE: Fake cough syrup could cause overdose, death: Montreal Public Health

The warning was about a fake cough syrup that was being paraded as a pharmaceutical medication.

Public health said in the warning that anyone who consumed the substance “could be exposed to an unpredictable and toxic mixture” that raises the possibility of an overdose.

• READ MORE: Counterfeit drugs that look like PEZ candies circulating in Montreal, public health says

Police say any information about drug and weapons trafficking can be reported confidentially to the SQ’s Criminal Information Centre at 1-800-659-4264.