Winnipeg a magnet for organized crime: police

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This article was published 01/05/2024 (533 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg police are grappling with an explosion of guns, drugs and violence as organized criminal networks increasingly use Manitoba’s capital city as a national trafficking hub, due to its central location.

The news comes on the heels of more than a dozen arrests in Winnipeg and elsewhere in Canada — the result of a yearlong investigation targeting a drug network with potential international connections, dubbed Project Soft Landing.

“Organized crime has just expanded and blown up in Canada in the last five to 10 years, and so the impact here in Winnipeg is significant. These operations and these organized crime groups create the violence you see on the street,” Winnipeg Police Service Insp. Elton Hall said, announcing the arrests inside WPS headquarters on Wednesday.

“We are just centralized. We have one of the biggest landports being established here … As an agency, we have to expand and adapt to that.”

The operation launched in May 2023, after police determined millions of dollars worth of drugs and firearms were being transported to Winnipeg from the Greater Toronto Area. It included collaboration with 10 police and prosecution agencies across the country, police said.

Investigators allege criminals were using railways, buslines, airlines and couriers to ferry illicit items into Winnipeg.

Twenty-two search warrants under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act were executed throughout Winnipeg, Ontario and Vancouver on March 6. More than half were executed in Winnipeg. Four were executed in Hamilton, and two each were executed in Burlington, Ont., Toronto and Vancouver.

Police expedited the operation due to a shooting in the 200 block of Portage Avenue the weekend before the search warrants were executed, Hall said.

“Police learned individuals being investigated discharged firearms at people during the early morning hours,” Hall said, explaining that police sought judicial permission to execute “covert measures,” restricting the movements of some involved suspects and placing them under surveillance for 24 hours.

“When we are up on individuals and they commit an offence like a shooting, it becomes our responsibility to prevent that. It changes the aspect of an investigation,” he said.

“We were planning a takedown, I’ll be honest, but I think we moved it up several days because of the shooting.”

Police seized a hydraulic cocaine press, 75 kg of a cutting agent, and about 30 kg of cocaine, which the WPS said has an estimated street value of $3 million. Investigators also seized four handguns (two of which were 3D-printed guns), a submachine-gun with a silencer and loaded magazines, and ammunition.

Officers also seized $1.7 million in cash and about $4 million in items obtained by proceeds of crime, such as jewelry and vehicles. Police seized 13 vehicles, several of which were luxury items, including a Rolls Royce valued at $450,000. Three of the vehicles had custom-made concealment compartments, police said.

The drugs and weapons are to be destroyed, while the jewelry and vehicles will be auctioned off. The seized cash and auction proceeds will go to the provincial government and be distributed among various portfolios, Hall said.

Some of the weapons seized originated from south of the border. Hall said investigators worked with U.S. officials during the investigation, but he could not elaborate further.

Fourteen people were charged with offences related to organized crime, drug trafficking, possession of firearms, possession of proceeds of crimes and laundering proceeds of crime as part of the project. Others may face charges at a later date.

Police suspect the network was also involved in sex trafficking, extortion and fraud-related offences, although Hall said he could not discuss those aspects because the investigation is ongoing.

The size and complexity of the investigation highlights a shift in how criminal networks operate, Hall said, explaining how such groups have grown increasingly sophisticated.

“People in other countries, other parts of the world, could be conducting crime in Winnipeg without necessarily having to be here,” he said. “Ten or 15 years ago, street gangs were just street gangs. They just were kind of operating in their own neighbourhoods, but they are now heavily influenced by organized crime.”

Cryptocurrency, money laundering techniques and 3D-printed firearms present further challenges to police, he added.

“Ten or 15 years ago, street gangs were just street gangs. They just were kind of operating in their own neighbourhoods, but they are now heavily influenced by organized crime.”– Winnipeg Police Service Insp. Elton Hall

The WPS inspector said he has been lobbying the federal government to strengthen and develop legislation surrounding the manufacturing of guns using 3D printers, acknowledging “it’s not hard” for criminals to produce such weapons.

“We are getting dangerously close to that point where there are going to be too many guns on the street,” he said. “I think we do a good job in trying to disrupt and prevent firearms violence, but it’s getting to a point where we can’t control it.”

The province provided $230,000 to support the investigation, Manitoba Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said.

Nine of those charged are from Winnipeg: Adrian Cheston, 28; Cornelius Hibbert, 55; Fiona Lewis, 62; Elvis Oyewole, 33; Paige Preteau, 27; Tovary Sharpe, 34; Kerry-Ann Thompson, 32; Darcy Warmington, 24 and Kevon Warmington, 34.

Iwona Glogowski, 31, of Vancouver; Arber Imeri, 27, of Burlington; Valentin Kokeny, 22, of Vancouver; Andy Le, 35, of Hamilton; and Tyrone Reid, 37, of Toronto, are also charged.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca