Niagara Regional Police say a man and a woman have been arrested in a drug trafficking investigation.
Police say earlier this year detectives assigned to 2 District (Niagara Falls/Niagara-on-the-Lake) Street Crime Unit (SCU) observed a man displaying behaviour consistent with drug trafficking outside a commercial business.
He was arrested and discovered to be in possession of a quantity of fentanyl, hydromorphone, and Canadian currency, police said in a news release.
On Wednesday, detectives received judicial authorization to execute a Controlled Drugs and Substances Act search warrant at a Niagara Falls motel room.
As a result of the investigation police arrested two individuals and seized 140 grams of suspected fentanyl (value $11,000), 38 suspected tablets of hydromorphone (value $380) and $1,820 in Canadian currency.
Gerald Caines, 55, of St. Catharines was arrested and charged with:
- Possession of fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking (2 Counts)
- Possession of hydromorphone for the purpose of trafficking
- Trafficking in fentanyl
- Possession of property obtained by crime under $5,000
- Fail to comply with release order (two counts)
Emnuela Bartolini, 55, of Niagara Falls was arrested and charged with possession of fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking.
Bartolini was released on a promise to appear with a future court date.
Caines was held in custody and is scheduled to attend the Robert S.K. Welch Courthouse in St. Catharines on Thursday.
None of the allegations have been tested in court and both Caines and Bartolini are considered innocent unless proven guilty.
