Editor’s Note: Charges against Hans Lauro were withdrawn on Sept. 18, 2019, and Nov. 2, 2020, after publication of this article.
The RCMP have dismantled an alleged drug trafficking ring in Hamilton that they say diverted hundreds of thousands of doses of narcotics – including thousands of fentanyl patches and oxycodone pills – from pharmacies to the black market.
In total, police said more than 2,100 fentanyl patches, and more than 300,000 pills – 75,000 oxycodone, 228,000 Oxycocet, 12,000 Dilaudid and 33,000 hydromorphone – were trafficked.
News of the bust – which has resulted in four people being charged – comes as the country grapples with an opioid crisis that killed more than 2,000 people in the first half of last year alone. More than 70 per cent of those deaths were linked to fentanyl.
The RCMP said the focus of their investigation was Angelo Kirkopoulos, a part-owner of Mt. Cross Pharmacy and a business director of Mountain RX and Health Care, both in Hamilton. The probe began after the police agency received a referral from Health Canada last February about suspected opioid diversion from Mt. Cross.
Mr. Kirkopoulos – who is not a pharmacist – was first arrested last spring, after search warrants were executed at his home and the two businesses. Upon his arrest, he was allegedly found to have 6,800 oxycodone tablets, 40 fentanyl patches and more than $60,000 in cash in his possession.
The then-41-year-old was charged with fraud under $5,000, uttering forged documents and two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking.
In October, those charges were upgraded to possession of fentanyl, oxycodone and amphetamine for the purpose of trafficking; possession of proceeds of crime over $5,000; and trafficking oxycodone, hydromorphone, fentanyl, clonazepam, codeine, alprazolam, amphetamine, buprenorphine and hydrocodone.
Police allege that Mr. Kirkopoulos accessed an order code for the pharmacy’s primary pharmaceutical distributor, and placed orders through them for drugs. He was also allegedly able to create an account with another pharmaceutical distributor, through which he was able to order drugs directly – which were also then trafficked.
In both scenarios, the RCMP said that he did this unbeknownst to Umair Nasim, who they described as the manager and majority owner of Mt. Cross Pharmacy.
Mr. Nasim – who is listed on the Ontario College of Pharmacists website as a pharmacist – was charged in this case with contravening the regulations of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.
On Monday, the RCMP announced that they had charged two additional men who they described as associates of Mr. Kirkopoulos, and who were involved in the ownership of Mountain RX and Health Care.
Nick Monasteridis, 50, of Burford, Ont., is charged with conspiracy to traffic fentanyl, hydromorphone, oxycodone, codeine, clonazepam, hydrocodone, buprenorphine and alprazolam.
Hans Lauro, 32, of Mississauga, is charged with conspiracy to traffic hydromorphone, oxycodone and amphetamine.
The RCMP said that the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FinTRAC), Health Canada and the Ontario College of Pharmacists assisted in the investigation.
In a statement Monday, RCMP Inspector Ann Koenig (who heads the Hamilton-Niagara Regional detachment) said that the issue of illicit opioids remains a top concern for the service.
The Ontario College of Pharmacists could not provide statistics Monday on the prevalence of these types of diversion cases.
In an e-mail, spokesperson Todd Leach said “the deliberate misuse of narcotics by pharmacy professionals is considered an abuse of professional privilege and breach of the public trust … and cannot be tolerated.”
Mr. Leach stressed that allegations of professional misconduct are taken seriously and investigated by the college, and could lead to revocation of a professional’s licence.
Molly Hayes