9 arrested, more than $700K in drugs seized after interprovincial trafficking investigation: Winnipeg police

An interprovincial web of do drugs traffickers transported a big quantity of illicit drugs and firearms to Manitoba from Toronto, lake winnipeg police force say after making several arrests in a months-long investigation that started last spring.

Winnipeg police say the investigation, dubbed Project Lowkey, began in April 2024, with help from Manitoba RCMP, the Manitoba First Nations Police Service, and police in Saskatoon, Vancouver and Toronto.

On Jan. 31, police issued multiple search warrants for addresses in Winnipeg, Sandy Bay First Nation and Thompson in Manitoba, and for addresses in Toronto, Brampton and Scarborough in Ontario. One address in Saskatoon was also searched, police said.

Police say their investigation has determined the traffickers used rail services, commercial airplanes, trains, off-road vehicles, boats, cars and trucks with hidden compartments to transport the drugs, according to Insp. Josh Ewatski, with the Winnipeg Police Service's organized crime unit.

The drugs were distributed throughout Manitoba, including Winnipeg, Portage la Prairie, Thompson and Sandy Bay First Nation, Ewatski said at a Wednesday news conference.

The traffickers used "sophisticated" methods to conceal drugs in luggage that were able to fool airport scanners, according to Ewatski. The commercial airlines they used will not be charged for failing to detect the drugs, he said. 

The network also "used fraudulent identification such as drivers licences for multiple provinces [and] social insurance numbers to travel on commercial airlines and railways," Ewatski said.

"They also used fraudulent identification to open bank accounts throughout Canada so as to be able to access money to fund their operations," he said. 

The drug traffickers targeted northern communities, including Norway House Cree Nation, Tataskweyak Cree Nation, Nelson House Cree Nation and The Pas, according to police.

The traffickers would stay in hotels and Airbnbs to establish their operation and store their product and firearms, according to police. They then transported the drugs and firearms into northern and First Nations communities to "prey off their vulnerabilities" by collaborating with existing drug networks, Ewatski said.

Manitoba First Nations Police Service Insp. Derek Beach said he believes Sandy Bay First Nation was used as a hub where the drugs were broken down and then transported to other communities. 

"Unfortunately it is too common in our First Nations communities for the drugs to come in," he said, adding that Manitoba First Nations police are hiring more officers and sharing information with Winnipeg police to combat drug trafficking operations. 

The searches in late January led to the arrests of nine people so far. Seven are each charged with multiple counts of conspiracy to commit an indictable offence:

A 35-year-old from Manitoba/the Greater Toronto Area is also charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, along with numerous firearms charges, police said.

Police also arrested a 31-year-old man from the Greater Toronto Area, who was wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder in Toronto.

Police are still searching for five people from Alberta and Ontario, ranging in age from 20 to 23, who are also accused of involvement in the trafficking ring and are wanted on charges of conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.

The January searches in Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatoon also led to multiple seizures, including seven loaded firearms, various types of ammunition, approximately 10 kilograms of cocaine (with an estimated street value of $250,000), five kilograms of methamphetamine (estimated street value of $35,000), 25,000 hydromorphone pills (estimated street value of $500,000), drug packaging materials, $280,000 in Canadian currency and three vehicles.

As the province beefs up security at the Canada-U.S. Border, Manitoba Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said police are seeing a lot of interprovincial drug trafficking activity.

"This is a substantial bust that we're seeing here, and I think it speaks to the fact that organized crime is active in the province of Manitoba," he said at Wednesday's news conference.

Wiebe said police must have a continued co-ordinated response to share information and take down drug trafficking operations.

More than $700K in drugs seized after interprovincial trafficking investigation

Tessa Adamski holds a bachelor of arts in communications from the University of Winnipeg and a creative communications diploma from Red River College Polytechnic. She was the 2024 recipient of the Eric and Jack Wells Excellence in Journalism Award and the Dawna Friesen Global News Award for Journalism, and has written for the Globe and Mail, Winnipeg Free Press, Brandon Sun and the Uniter.

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