The RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency stopped about $450 million in ecstasy from hitting Toronto streets by seizing 4,500 kilograms of the chemical used to make the drug. The agencies launched a four-month probe after border agents in Vancouver spotted an unusual shipment of water chestnuts from China, said spokesperson Faith St. John. After the agency marine unit received paperwork from the port in China in September, St. John said agents were watching for a shipment of 1,000 cartons of water chestnuts destined for Toronto.
When the shipment arrived, 116 of those cartons actually contained MDP2P (3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl-2-propanone), the main ingredient used to make ecstasy pills. St. John said a second, similar shipment arrived in Vancouver in November with 106 cartons containing the chemicals. The border agency found a total of 4,500 kg of MDP2P, enough to produce more than 30 million pills.
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