City police seize $6.3M in meth

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This article was published 20/10/2022 (1442 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two men from Alberta are facing multiple charges after police raided a luxury southwest Winnipeg apartment suite last week, seizing 63 kilograms of methamphetamine.

On Oct. 12, Winnipeg Police Service guns and gangs unit investigators executed a warrant at 835 Sterling Lyon Pkwy., after a two-day probe. Officers also found fentanyl, cocaine and gamma hydroxybutyrate, police said Thursday.

It’s the largest amount of meth city police have seized in one raid, organized crime Insp. Elton Hall told reporters, standing behind a table laden with large plastic bags stuffed with the stimulant street drug.

If broken down and sold at the $10 point level — a 10th of a gram — the pile of meth would be worth $6.3 million, police said.

The fentanyl, cocaine and GHB were estimated to have street values of $15,000, $13,000, and $4,000, respectively. GHB is a depressant used by bodybuilders and has a history as a date-rape drug.

Police also found more than $60,000 in cash.

The two Albertans arrested are connected to a multi-province organized crime network, Hall said.

Bryan Arnold, 47, and Dennis Bobko, 35, are charged with multiple counts of drug possession for the purpose of trafficking, and a single count of possession of the proceeds of crime over $5,000. They were detained in custody.

There’s a potential for more arrests, Hall said.

“We’ve been in communication with a lot of agencies across Western Canada. There’s been a lot of intelligence going back and forth about interprovincial trafficking, individuals from large drug networks moving drugs into Saskatchewan, Manitoba and western Ontario… and they’re trying to establish, essentially, drug networks,” Hall said.

“For whatever reason, they think they can do that… without any sort of issues involving police or the criminal element in Winnipeg. But Winnipeg’s a fairly small city… so it’s not too often we don’t hear about these shipments coming in — we just do the best we can to try to intercept.”

This shipment of drugs came in via motor vehicle, police said.

Hall noted city police arrested in November another pair of Albertans found with meth, cocaine and fentanyl, and have encountered others from outside of Manitoba trying to sell drugs, among other crimes, in the city.

The recent bust will have a multifaceted effect from hospitals to the streets, Hall said.

“From a criminal organization perspective, obviously, this is $6 million of money not going back into organized crime, which they again buy drugs with, or firearms,” he said.

“From a community standpoint, a Winnipeg standpoint, this is a significant amount of meth, so this provides some relief for the community. Individuals who may be… suffering from issues with drug use, this might provide them an opportunity now to re-evaluate their position and try to get help.”

The guns and gangs unit’s focus is on higher-level drug traffickers, rather than street users, Hall said.

“It’s these individuals who enter the city… who are causing a lot of chaos and mayhem for people in need, taking advantage of vulnerable people in the city who rely on these drugs and are making a huge profit on it,” he said.

The meth on Winnipeg streets has traditionally come from high-quality laboratories in Mexico, but there are also labs in the United States and Canada, police said. Given the lesser quality of the methamphetamine seized, it was most likely made in Canada or the U.S., said Hall.

The apartment suite where the Albertans were arrested had been rented by a third party. A one-bedroom, with floor-to-ceiling windows, goes for $1,385-$1,582 per month at the sleek, recently built, six-storey building west of Kenaston Boulevard, according to an online listing.

The listing describes the “exclusive new luxury apartment” as the “crown of the Tuxedo Point community.”

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera