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A 49-year-old Quebec man has been extradited to the United States to face charges of importing opioids into the US and money laundering. He had been arrested in Spain on February 20, 2026.
According to the indictment, authorities allege Sebastien “Stix” Rollin, who lived in Montreal at the time, arranged the sale of synthetic opioid pills containing protonitazene disguised as oxycodone, to a Tampa, Florida based undercover police officer.
Rollin allegedly claimed to be selling oxycodone, when in fact it was protonitazene, a powerful opioid considered to be three times more potent than fentanyl. Rollin is also tied to a large scale undercover DEA operation against Opinder “Thanos” Singh Sian for importing drugs into the United States and Australia.
His arrest came almost two years after Canadian federal police raided two synthetic opioid labs in Quebec and seized millions of deadly pills. Based on previous court filings, Rollins was connected to a Chinese fentanyl precursor supplier and a Mexican cartel-linked trafficking network operating out of Vancouver. That network was led by a Brothers Keeper gang founder.
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| Fake oxycodone pills containing protonitazene seized during the investigation. |
Undercover Opioid Operation
According to the indictment, Rollin began arranging the sale of synthetic opioid pills disguised as oxycodone, knowing the pills were destined for Tampa. “Rollin sold more than 10,000 such pills on May 13, 2024, to an undercover officer. He later sold 25,000 pills to an undercover officer on July 9, 2024,” the US attorney stated. “Rollin accepted payment for these sales via cryptocurrency that was sent from an undercover cryptocurrency wallet in Florida to Canada.”
In mid-July 2024, Rollin then allegedly negotiated the sale of 300,000 synthetic opioid pills to the U.S. and the shipment was intercepted by the RCMP.
Montreal Labs Raided
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RCMP also seized a pill press, as well as highly sophisticated equipment “enabling large-scale production.”
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It took the police more than a week to dismantle the laboratories. Residents of a quiet residential neighborhood where one of them was located were stunned by the scale of the police operation.
“This is one of the longest dismantling operations in Quebec,” said RCMP Corporal Martina Pillarova.
Rollin was not in Canada when the labs were seized. He had fled, eventually making his way to Spain.
The Spanish National Police located and arrested him, and on February 20, 2026, the US DOJ secured his extradition.
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| Opinder Sian Singh, a Brothers Keeper gang leader |
Undercover DEA Meth Sting
Back in June 2023, Rollin was involved in coordinating meth shipments to a undercover DEA source based in Los Angeles who planned to then ship the narcotics to Australia where the price is much higher than in the United States. This trafficking network was ran by Vancouver based trafficker Opinder Sian Singh.
Sian told the source he and his associates would be delivering an estimated 500-750 kilograms of methamphetamine. They’d be separate deliveries coordinated by Sian’s associates.
Sebastian Rollin, believed to live in Montreal at the time and a Sian associate, told the source his people would be dropping off 30 pounds of methamphetamine to the source in Southern California.
Sian said the person sourcing the narcotics used to live in Colombia and that is where he met the sources of supply for the narcotics, the affidavit said.
On a June 13, 2023 Threema chat started by Sian under the moniker “Cain” included the undercover source and Sebastian Rollin as “Sticks.” In this chat, the undercover source provided a serial number token from a dollar and also provided a cell number belonging to an undercover DEA agent who was acting as the source’s courier in Los Angeles who would pickup the 30 pounds of methamphetamine. Sian left for Los Angeles at the time in order to coordinate further shipments.
On June 22, 2023, arrangements were made for delivery of methamphetamine. It arrived in a cardboard box seized by police.
The gang has lent its support to the cause of Khalistan separatist movement on many occasions, was also seen active in rallies in support of Air India bombing mastermind Talwinder Singh Parmar and others, sources reported to the India Times. To Indian authorities, the Khalistani are terrorists, complicating the line between drug trafficking criminal groups and traditional terrorist groups.
“Local gangs like Brothers Keepers aren’t just street crews, they’re frontline proxies in transnational narcoterror networks,” former Canadian intelligence analyst Scott McGregor, an expert on the nexus of Chinese and Iranian threats and foreign interference, commented on X. “Ignoring them as low-level threats misses their role in laundering, logistics, and hybrid warfare.”
The investigation which began in 2022, has revealed that Sian had operational ties with chemical suppliers linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico. Much of the case focuses on methamphetamine shipments from Los Angeles to Australia, orchestrated by Sian, who acted as a proxy for transnational Mexican, Chinese, and Iranian networks, experts say.
