Two Toronto men have been arrested by the RCMP at Pearson Airport as police smashed an international ring that was smuggling thousands of Ecstasy pills into Canada.

Inspector Barry Dolan, Officer in Charge of the Toronto Airport RCMP Detachment, said MDMA, known more commonly as Ecstasy, was being smuggled into Canada from the U.S. and Italy.

“Our officers executed a search warrant and arrested two males for various offences,” the RCMP said.

Police said the investigation began after U.S. Customs and Border Protection intercepted a package containing almost 3,000 Ecstasy pills destined to the Toronto area.

The RCMP worked with the U.S. Homeland Security and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) in sharing information about the seizure.

Dolan said “the timely sharing of information between agencies” allowed police in Canada to identify the suspects and obtain a search warrant.

“Ammunition and documents were seized by the RCMP during the search of a rooming house in Scarborough,” police said in a release.

“This case demonstrates the value of effective and expedient communication and information sharing between law enforcement agencies,” Dolan said. “Organized crime groups and their networks exploit every opportunity to support their illegal operations while causing immeasurable harm to our communities.“

He said ‘we had the resources and expertise in place to act on this information and apprehend and charge these individuals.’

“These arrests exemplify the incredible joint efforts between Homeland Security Investigations and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in dismantling cross-border criminal organizations from trafficking illicit narcotics across the border,” said April Miller, a Department of Homeland Security, Toronto Assistant Attaché

Benny Zhang, 42 of Toronto, Ontario, and Chunbao Chen, 35 of Scarborough, have been charged with importation of a controlled substance into Canada, possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking and conspire to commit an indictable offence of importing a controlled substance into Canada.

MDMA or Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, is a mind-altering psychoactive drug commonly known as Ecstasy.