Drug Dealer Arrested After ‘Free Cocaine Sample’ Business Model

A drug dealer in Canada has been arrested after police allegedly found 60 grams of cocaine at his home, which he had been separating into small bags and stapling to his business cards as a ‘free sample’ to lure in buyers.

Seyyed Amir Razavi, 30, was caught with more than 50 dime bags of portioned cocaine and a mostly empty box of business cards, which were designed under the alias ‘Alex Lee.

The police had been searching for Razavi since Christmas Eve, after being tipped off about a man offering cocaine samples to gamblers outside a casino in downtown Calgary, police said in a press release.

The release read, “On Sunday, December 24, 2023, officers patrolling a downtown casino became aware of a business card that had been handed out to patrons at the casino. The card included the name “Alex lee” and had a small baggie with a sample of suspected cocaine attached.”

The release continued, “Investigators tracked down the suspect going by the alias of “Alex Lee” and throughout January gathered evidence consistent with drug trafficking involving the suspect and a vehicle he was believed to be utilizing.

“On Saturday, February 3, 2024, officers conducted a traffic stop on a 2020, white, Toyota Tundra. The driver was arrested, and a search warrant was executed on the vehicle as well as at a residence in the 0-100 block of Beaconsfield Place N.W., where the following items were seized: 59.6 grams of cocaine, individually portioned in more than 50 baggies, digital scale with drug residue, 1,280 dollars cash and business cards with “Alex Lee.”

The 30-year-old from Canada has been charged with two counts of trafficking a controlled substance (cocaine), one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking and three counts of possession of proceeds of crime under 5,000 dollars. Razavi was released from custody and will nex appear in court on Monday, February 26.

Cocaine and Other Drug Use on Rise in Canada, Reports Says

In most municipalities studied in Canada, cocaine levels rose from January to May 2022 compared with the same period in 2020, and early data for 2023 suggested that overall rise is continuing, according to a Statistics Canada report released in November last year.

Further, as drug overdoses saw an overall increase by more than 30 percent from 2020 to 2021, around half of the apparent accidental opioid deaths “also involved a stimulant,” said Statistics Canada, citing a different report about cocaine and other drugs by the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Opioids are a class of drug which include heroin, fentanyl and a variety of legal pain relievers. Stimulants include cocaine, methamphetamine or ‘crystal meth’, MDMA/ecstasy and amphetamines. The latter can include both illicit drugs and prescription medications used to treat conditions like attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).