Winnipeg police make multimillion-dollar seizures

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This article was published 24/08/2023 (829 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg police say an enforcement effort to combat trafficking has produced a multimillion-dollar drug seizure and several arrests, while highlighting an “alarming” amount of crime.

“(The Winnipeg Police Service guns and gangs and drug enforcement units are) seizing kilograms and kilograms of drugs off the street. This is every two or three months and they’re seizing 30, 40, 50, 60 kilos. In the last two years… it’s been between 200 and 300 kilos,” said Insp. Elton Hall of the organized crime division.

“In my 23 1/2 years of policing, I’m alarmed by it. That’s a lot of drugs to be coming off the street.”

Drugs seized through an investigation called “Project Watch Tower” could have been sold for up to $5.4 million on the street, while Winnipeg police pegged the wholesale price around $2.4 million, he said.

While Hall said the amount of drugs seized reflects a shift in the department’s mandate to focus on “mid-level trafficking” rather than street-level drug sales, he believes the amount of drugs remains a concern.

“We have a clear drug problem,” said Hall.

During June and July, the Winnipeg Police Service guns and gangs and drug enforcement units started separate investigations into methamphetamine and fentanyl trafficking.

A search warrant executed at a home on the 1000 block of Sherburn Street on July 27 led to the seizure of about 28 kilograms of methamphetamine, 2.7 kilos of cocaine, 5.7 kilos of cannabis, 4.2 kilos of cannabis edibles, 18 kilos of cannabis powder, packaging material for edibles, moulds for edibles and a Taser device.

Denis Michael Joseph Dostie, 57, of Stornoway, Que., and 46-year-old Winnipegger Tracy Lyons were arrested and have been charged with multiple drug trafficking, drug production and weapons-related offences.

Police believe the incident may involve a link to an organized crime group based in Montreal, Hall said.

The same day, additional search warrants were executed at residences on the 300 block of Qu’Appelle Avenue and the 400 block of Cumberland Avenue. Police seized a loaded 9 mm Glock firearm with an obliterated serial number, a loaded 3D-printed 9 mm polymer firearm without a serial number, 9 mm ammunition, about 85 grams of fentanyl, 6.7 kilos of methamphetamine, 2.6 kilos of cocaine, 28 grams of crack cocaine, digital scales, cellular phones and packaging materials.

Robert Trevor Lander, 47, Mohamed Hussein Keisar, 47, Guled Ali Omar Mohamed, 33, Abdurahzak Mohammed Isse, 33, and Joanna Lesley Rennicks, 53 — all Winnipeg residents — have been charged with multiple trafficking, proceeds of crime, and firearms-related offences.

All of the suspects remain in custody, Hall said.

The enforcement effort should have an impact, he said.

“After a seizure like this, for generally seven to 14 days, there’s a deflation in drug activity in the city. But, more importantl, when you take a large amount of drugs like this off the street, gun violence goes down,” he said.

Project Watch Tower followed community complaints about safety and drugs in the downtown and Point Douglas areas, Hall said. Police officers believe some suspects were also involved in a gun incident around the time the project started.

Police say suspects were spotted meeting multiple times in the Waterfront Drive area.

On July 26, the day before the searches took place, Hall said officers watched a man and woman carry multiple bags, a cooler and a heavy hockey bag into an address on Sherburn Street.

A fingerprint was lifted off a prohibited gun silencer that police also seized, which led officers to one suspect, he said.

Police are also seeing an increase in seizures of 3D guns, Hall said.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga