Police warn of a possible link between deaths and heroin while rounding up suspects and seizing cash and drugs.
Two men were arrested on drug charges at about 12:20 p.m. Thursday when RCMP officers stopped a vehicle on Wallace Street suspected of being involved in a drug deal earlier in the day.
Mounties followed up with a separate arrest near Country Club Centre at about 2:20 p.m.
Investigators then searched a residence in the 4200 block of Departure Bay Road where they turned up 46 grams of suspected heroin and $1,500 cash.
Over the past two weeks there have been two deaths in Nanaimo where heroin is suspected to have been a contributing factor. The investigations into the causes of the deaths are being handled by the B.C. Coroner’s Office.
“There have been a number of overdoses in the Nanaimo and central Vancouver Island area in the last month or so,” said Const. Gary O’Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman. “It’s not known, but heroin might be a contributing factor. The drug may have been heroin, but we can’t determine that until the toxicology reports have come back.”
All three men, age 53, 39 and 33, are from Nanaimo and known to the police. They were taken into custody on recommended charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking.
They have since been released on a promise to appear in Nanaimo provincial at a later date.