Article content

An Ottawa pharmacist who faked a robbery at his own drugstore to cover up the “mountains” of fentanyl patches he trafficked has been found guilty of his crimes, in what appears to be the city’s first case of narcotics trafficking in the profession and the latest effort to deal with a growing opioid crisis.

The police case against Waseem Shaheen began in October 2014 when he reported a knifepoint robbery at his Rideau Street I.D.A. pharmacy. The bandit had allegedly made away with more than $25,000 worth of fentanyl patches.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Pharmacist faked robbery to cover up fentanyl trafficking Back to video

When a patrol cop arrived, Shaheen couldn’t describe the robber, had no clue about a getaway car and, shaken, directed police to surveillance video — video that a federal prosecutor would later contend was nothing more than a staged piece of theatre between two co-conspirators.

The investigation by detectives in the Ottawa police robbery unit would eventually stall since most of their cases rely on suspect identification. In this case, the robber was well masked and couldn’t be identified. But, a month after the robbery, pharmacy records showed investigators that Shaheen had filled what were clearly fake prescriptions for more than 1,500 fentanyl patches in the name of one man — Mehdi Rostaee.