Halifax man charged in international drug trafficking investigation

RCMP and Homeland Security say they have arrested an international drug trafficker based in Halifax.

In what’s being called a “first of its kind” investigation, Mounties said the Nova Scotia RCMP Federal Serious and Organized Crime disrupted an international drug trafficker who was using the dark-web.

Operation Hackstone began in February of this year after RCMP received information from Homeland Security Investigations regarding a Nova Scotia-based drug trafficker who was exporting opioid drugs to the United States and trafficking domestically throughout Canada.

According to police, the suspect was advertising the sale of illegal opioids through online darknet websites and receiving payment by cryptocurrency.

Investigators eventually determined the suspect was based in Halifax and that he was sending packages that contained drugs through the mail, both nationally across Canada and, internationally to the United States.

In August, officers arrested 37-year-old John Nicholas Allen-Simec of Halifax.

Investigators executed search warrants in various locations across the HRM, resulting in the seizure of a 2021 Toyota Rav4, hydromorphone, Dexedrine, ketamine, MDMA, and Xanax, among other things.

Mounties say they were also able to seize crypto-wallets associated to Allen-Simec.

Allen-Simec has been charged with the following offences:

• Trafficking a Controlled Substance – Hydromorphone (three counts)
• Trafficking a Controlled Substance – Amphetamine
• Exporting a Controlled Substance from Canada – Hydromorphone (five counts)
• Exporting a Controlled Substance from Canada – Amphetamine
• Possession of a Controlled Substance for the Purpose of Trafficking (two counts)
• Possession of a Controlled Substance for the Purpose of Exporting (two counts)

Allen-Simec was released on conditions and will appear in Halifax Provincial Court next month.