VANCOUVER – Mounties have announced charges against two Metro Vancouver residents in connection with police uncovering a large shipment of cocaine and 40,000 fentanyl pills.

Police say they were alerted to a shipment coming to Vancouver in February 2016 and found three suitcases full of cocaine in a refrigerated container that arrived from Brazil.

RCMP say in a news release that officers intercepted two people shortly after discovering the drugs and gathered enough evidence to search an apartment in Richmond, B.C.

Police say they found a one kilogram brick of methamphetamine and bags of pills containing fentanyl, the opioid that has been largely responsible for the overdose death crisis sweeping the country.

Forty-eight-year-old Yan Chau Lam, also known as Andrew Lam, of Richmond, has been charged with conspiracy to import, trafficking and unlawful possession of a controlled substance, while Gertrude Cheong of Vancouver faces trafficking and conspiracy charges.

Both accused have been released on bail and are scheduled to be back in court on Oct. 31.