The Manitoba RCMP’s organized crime unit says it has charged a Winnipeg man with money laundering — among other charges — as part of Project Doom, an investigation into suspicious activities in local casinos that began last October.
Police said 30-year-old Mohammad Riyadul Hoque is accused of supplying drugs — including crack cocaine and fentanyl — to multiple remote First Nations in Manitoba, then laundering the cash proceeds through Winnipeg casinos.
Manitoba communities affected include Red Sucker Lake, Garden Hill, Island Lake and St. Theresa Point, plus North Spirit Lake in Ontario.
Hoque was arrested last month in Winnipeg and charged with trafficking fentanyl, trafficking cocaine and possessing the proceeds of crime, on top of the money laundering charge.
Police said they followed up on his arrest by searching his residence and seized large quantities of crack cocaine and counterfeit OxyContin tablets containing fentanyl as well as hundreds of other tablets, including Percocet, gabapentin and almost 350 unknown tablets.
In a release Thursday, RCMP credited the co-operation between agencies like the Winnipeg Police Service, Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) and Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries — which initially flagged the casino activity — with the operation’s success.
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