Nightclub owner, divorced dad sentenced for involvement in cocaine-trafficking case

Three people, including a Winnipeg nightclub owner and a divorced dad desperate for cash, have been sentenced in a cocaine-trafficking case city police were once concerned had been compromised by a corrupt cop.

The trio was charged in early 2024 as part of Project Roasted, a lengthy investigation into a drug trafficking network by the Winnipeg Police Service organized crime unit.

Investigators arrested two of the men, Mohamed Ali and Abdullah Khan, as they left the Stella’s on Pembina Highway in early February 2024. Two kilograms of cocaine was found in Khan’s car.

On the same day, Ahmed Dini was arrested at his River Avenue suite, where investigators found more than 200 rocks of crack cocaine.

Months later, investigators obtained a search warrant for data contained on Ali’s phone, after detectives “developed concerns that the investigation had been compromised,” when they learned then-veteran police constable Elston Bostock appeared to be associated with Ali and members of his circle, Crown prosecutor Ari Millo said in sentencing submissions earlier this year.

Bostock was sent to prison for seven years in January, after he pleaded guilty to a laundry list of corruption offences, including that he gave police information to people outside the force.

The June 2024 warrant yielded photographs of Bostock, who was at the time being investigated by professional standards officers for corruption, with criminal associates. Police also discovered text messages between Ali and others referencing Bostock looking up licence plates.

But three recent court hearings suggest Project Roasted was not stymied by Bostock’s corruption, despite the concerns of investigators.

Ali, deemed a high-level trafficker in court, was the initial target of the police operation, which began in April 2023.

At a June hearing in front of Court of King’s Bench Justice Shawn Greenberg, Ali pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine for the purposes of trafficking between October 2023 and February 2024. He is expected to be sentenced to eight years in prison early next year.

Federal Crown prosecutor Jean-Pierre Deniset told court that police, armed with warrants, conducted repeated covert entries at Ali’s home in Niverville, where they found cocaine, cutting agents, cash and various drug paraphernalia.

Ali directed Khan to move large amounts of cocaine as a high-level courier.

Khan was sentenced to seven years by provincial court Judge Kael McKenzie in May after pleading guilty to possession for the purpose of trafficking and attempting to obstruct justice in a separate case.

The 49-year-old father once owned Moonlight Lounge on Osborne Street and had no criminal record prior to getting involved with drug traffickers, which his lawyer Brett Gladstone said was related to debts and financial challenges.

Federal Crown prosecutor Raegan Rankin said it was “baffling” Khan would get involved in drugs at his age and place in life.

The judge speculated that the nightclub business may have brought him into contact with the criminal underworld.

“It’s not lost on me, what you were doing as a business owner at the time, working in a nightclub that only operates from 10 o’clock til 2 a.m.-ish, and in that job — I don’t know if this is where you made these acquaintances — but it’s probably not unusual, from where I sit, that people who are involved in nightclubs come across people who are involved in other things,” McKenzie said.

Khan admitted he picked up a load of 20 kilograms of cocaine and delivered some of it before police arrested him outside Stella’s.

He also admitted he misled police after a man was shot after hours in his nightclub in February last year, which prevented the victim from receiving prompt medical care.

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In August last year, Dini pleaded guilty to a drug offence and was given a two-year conditional sentence, followed by two years of supervised probation, on a joint recommendation from the Crown and defence.

Dini, in his mid-40s, was recently divorced and struggling financially, after a long career working with people with disabilities, among other jobs. A father of eight, he accepted an offer from a friend to stash crack cocaine.

“I’m really puzzled why, despite financial circumstances, the fact that you, a father of eight children, would involve yourself in something like this. The repercussions even on your family alone are significant,” provincial court Judge Lisa Labossiere told Dini.

His lawyer said Dini has regretted his decision every day since.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Erik Pindera
Reporter

Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020.  Read more about Erik.

Every piece of reporting Erik produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.