Province targets almost $200K in seized cash

Justice officials are going after the nearly $200,000 in cash seized earlier this year from a Winnipeg man accused of running a high-level methamphetamine and cocaine trafficking operation.

Winnipeg Police Service organized crime investigators raided two houses and an apartment in mid-May and seized a whopping 43 kilograms of methamphetamine, just under two kilos of cocaine and cash, Insp. Josh Ewatski told reporters this summer.

George David MacFarlane, 49, was arrested and charged with drug trafficking offences as well as possessing the proceeds of crime on May 15, the same day as the raids. Police let him out on an undertaking due to his poor health. The allegations have yet to be heard in court.

Organized crime detectives began looking into allegations he was dealing drugs at the multi-kilogram level in April and put him under surveillance, watching him attend all three residences, alleged to be his stash houses.

In a civil forfeiture lawsuit filed late last month, the province is seeking to retain the $187,640 in cash seized from a Mapleglen home, and the $10,200 found at a Noble Avenue house, where MacFarlane was living with his spouse, as the proceeds of crime.

The court filing names MacFarlane and his spouse as defendants.

Both houses have been recently listed for sale, real estate listings indicate.

Ewatski revealed few details of what led his officers to investigate MacFarlane, but did say they believe he tried to use Canada Post to ship a kilo of cocaine to another location in the country.

In an arrest report included in the court filings, police said MacFarlane admitted to renting the La Verendrye apartment and the Mapleglen house and admitted the cash was his — but declined to comment on the drugs.

The report indicates MacFarlane was identified as a high-level supplier of cocaine, but doesn’t delve into how he came onto police radar. Certain aspects of how police conducted the probe are redacted from reports filed as evidence in the forfeiture case.

Officials allege in the court documents MacFarlane used the Mapleglen Drive house and an apartment on La Verendrye Street as stash locations.

MacFarlane was picked up on May 15, the day of the raids, after he left the La Verendrye suite.

Officials say he had about half a kilo of cocaine on him, along with two cellphones, when he was arrested. He had another phone in his vehicle.

Investigators found the meth and just under half a kilo more of cocaine inside the La Verendrye apartment, along with drug trafficking paraphernalia like scales, a vacuum sealer, packaging and what’s called a “score sheet” — a list of money owed.

Police found similar paraphernalia at the other two houses. In the Mapleglen house, they found the cash in a safe.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca