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More than a dozen people, including nine Winnipeggers, are facing charges as part of the investigation into a large-scale, interprovincial drug network, police say.
Insp. Elton Hall of the police service’s organized crime unit, along with Manitoba justice minister Matt Wiebe, spoke to media Wednesday morning about Project Soft Landing.
Over the course of the investigation — which culminated in raids on 12 Manitoba locations and 10 in other provinces March 6 — police determined that millions of dollars in drugs and guns were being trafficked from the Greater Toronto Area to Winnipeg, via couriers, railways and bus lines.
As a result of the searches, police in Manitoba, Ontario and British Columbia collectively seized $1.7 million in cash, 30 kilograms of cocaine (an estimated $3 million street value), a hydraulic cocaine press and moulds, and 75 kilograms of a cutting agent.
In addition, police confiscated a submachine gun, four handguns — two of which were 3D-printed — plus loaded magazines and ammunition, as well as a Harley-Davidson motorycle and 12 vehicles, a $450,000 Rolls Royce among them.
Three of the seized vehicles had custom-made compartments to conceal illegal items, police said.
Around $4 million in proceeds of crime was seized, police said, including the vehicles, as well as jewelry and other merchandise.
Nine Winnipeggers, ranging in age from 24-62 were arrested, along with two people from Vancouver, and one person from each of Toronto, Hamilton and Burlington, Ontario.
Police said they’re all charged with organized crime-related offences, which could include drug trafficking, possessing firearms, and possessing and laundering the proceeds of crime.
Some may face additional charges at a later date.
Project Soft Landing, police said, involved more than 10 Canadian police services and other agencies, including the Public Prosecution Service of Canada and VIA Rail Canada police.
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