January 31, 2018
FINTRAC today published an Operational Alert, Laundering of the Proceeds of Fentanyl Trafficking, to assist businesses subject to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act in reporting suspicious financial transactions that may be linked to the trafficking of illicit fentanyl, an opioid that is devastating many Canadian communities.
Developed from a strategic analysis of FINTRAC’s financial intelligence and in consultation with a number of Canadian financial institutions and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the money laundering indicators show how drug traffickers exploit the financial system to acquire fentanyl and to launder the proceeds of this illicit activity.
This Operational Alert will support a new broader public-private sector initiative, Project Guardian. This project will see the mobilized efforts of Canadian financial institutions and money services businesses, under the leadership of CIBC, FINTRAC and Canada’s law enforcement agencies brought to bear to combat the trafficking of illicit fentanyl. With enhanced suspicious transaction reporting related to fentanyl, FINTRAC will be able to disclose additional financial intelligence in support of the money laundering and drug trafficking investigations of its law enforcement regime partners.
