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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Police make $1-M drug bust

Seven arrested, six still sought after organized-crime takedown

By: Gabrielle Giroday

Posted: 02/4/2012 1:00 AM

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Billy Bowden (SUBMITTED PHOTO)

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St. Vital house where bust took place. (PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG PRESS)

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RCMP members confer outside the suspect home Friday morning. (PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS )

Police have seized more than $1 million worth of drugs in an intricate bust in which seven people were apprehended and six more have warrants out for their arrest.

Project Deplete, a large-scale takedown by the Manitoba Integrated Organized Crime Task Force -- comprising officers with the Winnipeg Police Service, Brandon Police Service and the RCMP -- took place early Friday morning.

Officers seized about 6.9 kilograms of cocaine, 4.6 kg of crack cocaine, and 2.7 kg of methamphetamine. They also seized more than 9,800 tablets of ecstasy, about 500 tablets of oxycodone and about 900 grams of marijuana.

The investigation has been under way since August 2011, said police.

"It's very important for us to attack organized crime in the city, in the province, and across the country, and that's what we've been doing," said Winnipeg Police Service Chief Keith McCaskill.

RCMP 'D' Division Assistant Commissioner Bill Robinson said the seizure will enhance public safety.

"These are independents. And of course, you've got to keep in mind that when you take off the puppet clubs and the traffickers, it's like anything else, people come up to fill voids and this is what we've got here, is we've got some that fill voids and some that hold position in some of those groups," said Robinson.

Police said they've arrested William "Billy" Lauren Bowden, 36, and charged him with three counts of trafficking in cocaine and two counts of possessing proceeds of crime.

Bowden is an ex-Hells Angel member who struck a plea bargain on a charge of manslaughter for his role in the stabbing death of 24-year-old Jeff Engen in a Main Street nightclub in 2007.

Police also arrested Chi Hong Do, who is charged with cocaine trafficking, trafficking in crack cocaine and two counts of possessing the proceeds of crime.

Officers stormed a St. Vital home where Do lived early Friday morning, said a nearby resident in the 100 block of Vadeboncoeur Drive. The man said police entered the house at about 9 a.m. He said officers were heavily armed and wearing protective gear.

A woman who came out of the house later in the day said she'd been inside when police came to search the property for drugs. Do wasn't there at the time of the raid, she said.

Also charged Friday were:

-- Joshua James Lyons, 29, charged with cocaine trafficking, two counts of possessing the proceeds of crime.

-- Christopher Lea Murrell, 36, charged with two counts of cocaine trafficking and one count of possessing the proceeds of crime.

-- Pardeep Kapoor, 33, charged with cocaine trafficking, methamphetamine trafficking and two counts of possessing the proceeds of crime.

-- Ramsey Yaggey, 32, charged with cocaine trafficking, oxycodone trafficking, fentanyl trafficking and possessing the proceeds of crime.

-- Joshua Robert Charney, 21, charged with methamphetamine trafficking and possessing the proceeds of crime.

Police said all are from Winnipeg, except for Yaggey, who is from Edmonton.

The seven arrested are scheduled to appear in court Monday.

Police have also issued warrants for the following on various charges: Dalton Miller, 21, Kareem Martin, 31, Elmer John Deato, 26, Dane Sawatzky, 27, Mark Beitz, 31, and David Thomas, 29.

gabrielle.giroday@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 4, 2012 A13

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