Five things about the RCMP’s bust of Hamilton’s Mt. Cross Pharmacy

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Last week, The Hamilton Spectator looked into an RCMP bust of a local pharmacy where prescription drugs were allegedly funnelled into the black market.

Here are five things to know about the investigation, allegations, illicit opioid trafficking, and the regulations meant to prevent it.

The RCMP charged four people with offences ranging from a regulatory breach to drug trafficking and uttering forged documents in 2018 and early this year.

The Mounties allege the scheme saw Mt. Cross Pharmacy “divert” roughly 400,000 doses of prescription drugs from two legitimate suppliers to the black market.

This involved a laundry list of pharmaceuticals including fentanyl, oxycodone, hydromorphone, clonazepam and codeine.

The Spectator obtained court filings the RCMP made in January to secure search warrants.

In them, the Mounties explain how they were initially conducting an investigation into an alleged cheque fraud at a Hamilton convenience store when they received a tip from Health Canada inspectors about discrepancies between invoices, orders and supplies at Mt. Cross Pharmacy.

The RCMP discovered funds from the allegedly altered cheques cashed at the store were deposited into an account associated with one of the pharmacy owners.

Officers obtained warrants to search the residences of the suspects and the pharmacy itself. The Mounties also tailed the movements of the alleged players in Hamilton, Mississauga and Brant County.

They probed Snapchat conversations, financial activities, property records, pharmaceutical supplier orders and business information. One of the several large transactions detectives highlighted in the court filings involved six-figure payments to purchase a $600,000 property in the Bahamas.

• Angelo Kirkopoulos, 41, of Hamilton, who was co-owner of Mt. Cross Pharmacy, is charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking, proceeds of crime, and uttering forged documents.

• Nick Monasteridis, 50, of Burford, Brant County, described as a blind shareholder in an associated numbered company, is charged with conspiracy to traffic controlled substances.

• Hans Lauro, 33, of Mississauga, described as a director of an associated numbered company, is also charged with conspiracy to traffic controlled substances.

• Umair Nasim, of Hamilton, is the sole pharmacist of the bunch. On April 17, the 49-year-old pleaded guilty to contravening regulations relating to pharmacists under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. He was given a conditional discharge and placed on 18 months of probation.

Court dates are pending for the others.

Hamilton is struggling with an opioid overdose crisis that local public health officials believe killed at least 100 people in the city last year.

Fentanyl is a powerful painkiller produced in patch form that’s used in medical settings. However, the patch and synthetic knock-offs are also driving the overdoses on the street. Dealers “cut” heroin with fentanyl, making for an unpredictable mix that can be deadly for users.

Law enforcement says the vast majority of the highly addictive bootleg fentanyl is shipped in bulk to North America from China. The pharmacy industry says cases of illicit diversion are rare compared to vast majority of law-abiding professionals.

Health Canada requires pharmacies to report losses or thefts of restricted drugs and immediately inform police.

The federal department also conducts compliance checks and inspections to ensure sector workers are complying with Controlled Drugs and Substances Act regulations.

Inspectors, as in the Mt. Cross case, inform law enforcement when they find suspicious activities.

The Ontario College of Pharmacists says it’s consulting with Health Canada on how they can use loss and theft data as well as information from the province’s Narcotics Monitoring System (NMS) to strengthen oversight.

Pharmacies must submit dispensing information to the NMS, which is a central database that aims to detect double-doctoring and multiple pharmacy visits.