Ontario men arrested in Winnipeg after drug investigation

Two Ontario men are facing charges after they were arrested in Winnipeg as part of an interprovincial drug investigation.

The Durham Regional Police Service launched Project Hydrogen, a drug-trafficking investigation in the Greater Toronto Area, this year. It focused on an Ontario-based gang called 44, and police learned gang members and associates travelled to Winnipeg to set up a drug operation. Durham police asked the Winnipeg Police Service for help in August.

Durham police later determined courier services were being used to send drug shipments to Manitoba’s capital. Winnipeg police seized a combined total of about 2,600 hydromorphone pills worth $18,900 on Nov. 13 and Nov. 20, the WPS said in a news release Monday.

A 44 member was stationed in Winnipeg to facilitate the shipments, the WPS said.

The WPS, and police across Ontario, raided properties Thursday. In Winnipeg, police searched a suite on the first 100 block of Edmonton Street and a vehicle. Officers seized 3,000 hydromorphone pills with an estimated street value of $21,000 and 150 grams of cocaine worth $10,000, the WPS said, along with fake identification allegedly used to facilitate shipping drugs.

Two Scarborough men, ages 21 and 19, have been charged. Both men were detained in custody.