Halifax RCMP have seized about $4 million worth of cocaine, thousands of counterfeit oxycodone pills, after searching a secret compartment in a car.

Superintendent Don Moser, senior operations officer with the Halifax RCMP, said it is a significant amount of drugs that officers prevented from getting out onto the street.

“That work can’t stop,” said Moser. “The amount, the drug trade is something that we’re always working hard to interrupt for public safety reasons.”

In September, the RCMP started an investigation into cocaine trafficking in Halifax, and they got their eyes on the transporter, a 38-year-old from Dartmouth.

He visited Quebec and on his return trip to Nova Scotia, around 6 p.m. on Sept. 29, police stopped him while he was driving a Nissan Quest and heading east on Highway 104 in Colchester County.

When officers searched the car, they found 40 kilograms of cocaine and 10,000 counterfeit pills of oxycodone, which they believe are laced with fentanyl, in a hidden compartment underneath the trunk.

The man was charged with two counts of drug trafficking.

In a news conference Tuesday, the RCMP would not say if they expect the suspect could face more charges or if additional people would be charged as the investigation continues.

Moser said the man was probably part of a well-organized, complex machine, so he would not comment further on potential charges.