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Fentanyl trafficking is the fuel and volatile gang rivalries are providing the spark for the dramatic increase in gun violence this year in Calgary.

Police investigators made the link between a brisk criminal trade in fentanyl and the ongoing violence at a news conference Tuesday announcing the arrest of 11 people in connection with the seizure of 3,500 fentanyl tablets and other illegal drugs, including crack cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana.

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“There certainly seems to be a strong correlation between the groups trafficking in fentanyl and the violence,” said Staff Sgt. Quinn Jacques of the city’s guns and gangs unit.

During the first 10 months of 2015, there were 85 reported shootings — an increase of 67 per cent over the 51 shootings recorded in the same period last year. Investigators have attributed much of the violence to clashes between two or more criminal groups. Unlike the violent conflict between the FOB and FOB Killers gangs of the early 2000s, the current violence doesn’t have two clearly defined sides pitted against each other.