St. Thomas Police have charged six people with 64 criminal offences after a months-long investigation into fentanyl trafficking in the city, the service announced Thursday morning.
The investigation, called Project Apex, began in March and ran through August with support from the Criminal Intelligence Service Ontario. Officers executed search warrants at several St. Thomas locations and seized 194.3 grams of fentanyl, worth an estimated $19,430, along with cocaine, methamphetamine, crack cocaine and 487 prescription pills including Oxycodone and Morphine. The total street value of the drugs was about $32,185. Police also seized more than $4,000 in cash, a conducted energy weapon, a crossbow and ammunition.
The release does not name the six people charged, and the allegations have not been proven in court.
The same drugs showing up in the local supply
The mix of drugs seized in Project Apex, fentanyl, cocaine, crack cocaine and methamphetamine, echoes a warning Southwestern Public Health issued this summer about what has been turning up in the local supply. In June, samples of crystal methamphetamine and cocaine reported to the health unit tested positive for xylazine, fentanyl and benzodiazepines on drug test strips, a mix the health unit said may not fully respond to naloxone and can cause dangerously prolonged sedation. The health unit issued a Drug Watch for Elgin and Oxford County from June 24th to July 4th over the finding.
That is the concrete local meaning behind a line in the release, which said the investigation targeted people suspected of trafficking to “people at heightened risk of exploitation and drug-related harm.”
A death earlier this year
Fentanyl has already had at least one human cost in St. Thomas this year. St. Thomas Police say a 28-year-old woman was found unresponsive at a downtown address on May 30th and died in hospital. A 46-year-old man was arrested in Aylmer on June 8th and charged with manslaughter and trafficking fentanyl; investigators say he supplied the substance that caused her death. As of the police service’s June release, the case was before the courts. The two cases are separate, and police have not linked them.
Scale and support
For comparison, St. Thomas Police reported an earlier drug investigation in November 2022: a search warrant executed at a Talbot Street apartment, with OPP assistance, led to seven people charged and more than $12,000 in drugs seized, as reported at the time by Global News. Project Apex’s charge count and seized drug value are both larger, though the two investigations were run differently and are not a direct comparison.
The Chief’s message says Project Apex was funded by the Ontario government’s Ministry of the Solicitor General, in addition to support from the Criminal Intelligence Service Ontario. Chief Marc Roskamp called it a “balanced approach,” pairing enforcement against traffickers with “collaborative health, social service, housing and recovery pathways for people affected by addiction.”
People struggling with substance use, or worried about someone who is, can contact Southwestern Public Health’s harm reduction team at harmreduction@swpublichealth.ca, or the National Overdose Response Service at 1-888-688-NORS if using alone. Call 911 in an overdose emergency.
Sources: St. Thomas Police Service: Project Apex media release, August 27, 2026, Southwestern Public Health: Drug Watch for Elgin & Oxford County, June 24, 2026, St. Thomas Police Service: media release, June 9, 2026
By Anthony Zruna · About the LocVox Newsroom
