The Winnipeg Police Service headquarters in February. Police seized 525 kilograms of cocaine, fentanyl and other substances in a two-year interprovincial operation.Steve Lambert/The Canadian Press
Police say they have made the largest drug bust in Manitoba history, arresting 33 people and seizing 525 kilograms of cocaine, fentanyl and other substances.
It was a two-year interprovincial operation that also involved police forces in Ontario and Alberta, and with suspects alleged to have ties to the Hells Angels and Mexican drug cartels.
Police say the drugs were transported from the United States in commercial transport trucks stored primarily in Ontario and Alberta, then brought to Manitoba.
The operation included more than 200 warrants and production orders, and targeted major drug networks.
Police have laid 174 charges against people in Manitoba, Edmonton and Brantford, Ont., and have warrants out for two other men from Brantford.
Ontario Provincial Police in the Fort Frances and Dryden areas arrested another four people and seized 26 kilograms of cocaine.
“We all see the crippling impact of the drug trade on a daily basis,” Cam Mackid, deputy chief of the Winnipeg Police Service, said.
“Homicides, gun and gang violence, counter-exploitation, property crime, retail theft. All of these crime categories are directly impacted by the drug trade.”
Seven suspects have already pleaded guilty and have been sentenced to between three and 16 years in prison, Insp. Josh Ewatski, of the Winnipeg police’s organized crime division, said.