‘Significant blow to organized crime in Manitoba’ Raids net 10 arrests, millions in seized goods, drugs: police By: Ashley Prest Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018

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This article was published 31/10/2018 (2255 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Police seized high-end vehicles, illegal drugs and weapons worth an estimated $2.7 million, and arrested 10 people earlier this month in the takedown of an alleged network that spanned the four western provinces and a 10-month investigation.

“Project Riverbank” involved 300 officers from the RCMP and police services in Vancouver, Edmonton, Regina and Winnipeg — including 158 Winnipeg Police Service members and 35 RCMP officers from Manitoba.

“Today, we have made a significant blow to organized crime in Manitoba and across Canada. There’s no doubt that these arrests and seizures will have a substantial impact on the flow of drugs into the province and throughout the country,” assistant commissioner Scott Kolody, the commanding officer of the Manitoba RCMP, said at a news conference Thursday at a Manitoba Public Insurance compound.

“We know all too well that where there are drugs, there is also violence. Members of organized crime and their associates have a callous disregard for the safety of others. These networks regularly place the public at risk and their actions greatly affect every Canadian’s right to safety and security…

“Be assured that by putting these organized crime networks out of business, law enforcement is making a difference — and we will continue our work to stop these criminal organizations from operating.”

The investigation ended Oct. 18, when 16 search warrants were simultaneously executed — eight in Winnipeg, four in Regina, one in Edmonton, and at two residences and one property in B.C.’s lower mainland.

“This investigation demonstrations the ability of police from different jurisdictions to come together in partnership to detect and to disrupt criminal organizations,” WPS Chief Danny Smyth said.

“This particular investigation oriented here in Winnipeg, and the scope of it started to spread across Western Canada. The supply chain looks like it moved west to east.”

WPS Insp. Max Waddell said the supply chain allegedly involved moving the drugs in trailers pulled by a semi-tractor truck seized in Winnipeg.

“The transport truck was moving the illicit drugs from British Columbia, making stops in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, with its destination being here in Manitoba, and then it was being distributed,” Waddell said.

A $400,000 McLaren 650S luxury sports car, a $160,000 Porsche 911 in B.C., and a 2019 semi in Manitoba worth $266,000 were among the total of $1.4 million in vehicles seized.

Seizures from Manitoba were displayed at Thursday’s news conference, including a three-kilogram package of methamphetamine, 11 kg of cocaine, two kg of ketamine, six ounces of heroin, 1.8 kg of marijuana, 21 kg of cutting agent, and 20 oxycodone pills. The total street value of the drugs seized in Manitoba was estimated at $845,500.

“The seizure of methamphetamine (in Manitoba) during Project Riverbank totalled three kilograms. If you extrapolate three kilograms to how it would be distributed on the street, that would potentially equal to 30,000 ‘hits,'” Waddell said, noting each gram of meth is usually broken into 10 smaller quantities (called points) to be sold.

“Therefore, 30,000 citizens of Winnipeg could have been exposed to this highly addictive drug. That’s why it’s very significant that it be removed from the streets of Winnipeg.”

A nine-mm semi-automatic handgun, ammunition and a bullet-proof vest were also displayed Thursday. Parked along the MPI compound’s back wall was the semi, a 2018 Ford F-450 and a 2011 BMW 328xi, among eight vehicles seized in Manitoba.

Waddell said Project Riverbank was “a complex investigation” that involved WPS multiple units, including the tactical support team, street crime, community support, crime analysis, K-9, surveillance and technical crime.

The 10 people arrested — four women, six men — are charged with a total of 156 offences, including drug trafficking, drug possession, conspiracy to traffic, firearms-related offences, proceeds of crime, and extortion.

Six of the 10 are from Winnipeg: Mason Joaquin Burg, 24; Daniel Jason Finkbeiner, 30; Lisa Dawn Hallson, 32; Amanda Marie Borges, 27; Darci Ann Geiger, 33; and William Junior Fuller, 22.

The others are: Mohammad Shakil Khan, 39, of Vancouver; Allan Ronald Rodney, 70, of Surrey, B.C.; Shontal Vaupotic, 32, of Surrey; and Herbert Mejia-Orellana-Delgado, 29, of Edmonton.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca