A series of search warrants executed in southwest Edmonton late last month have resulted in the seizure of about $350,000 worth of street drugs, while police say a condo that investigators believe was being used as a “drug stash location” has been deemed unfit to live in.
In a news release issued Friday morning, the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams said police officers raided three southwest Edmonton homes as well as two vehicles on Feb. 29.
The operation involved members of the Edmonton Police Service and the RCMP’s clandestine enforcement and response team.
ALERT said investigators believe a condo located in the Allard neighbourhood may have been used to process fentanyl.
ALERT said officers found chemicals, buffing agents and “equipment used in the process of fentanyl conversion” when they showed up at the condo.
Mike Tucker, a spokesperson for ALERT, spoke to Global News about one of the things he found particularly concerning about what officers found at the condo.
“You’re seeing fentanyl being processed at one location alongside other drugs,” he said. “We’ve talked in the past about cross-contamination, here’s a clear risk of that happening.”
According to ALERT, the condo has since been deemed uninhabitable by Alberta Health Services and “will require extensive remediation.”
The order was posted on the door of the Unit 230 inside the Heritage Valley Station II building at 3315 James Mowatt Trail SW.
The owners have been ordered to hire a professional company that specializes in hazardous materials to clean the premises and submit a remediation plan.
Insp. Angela Kemp with ALERT Edmonton said the seizure shows how fentanyl impacts the community in different ways.
Speaking broadly about drug trafficking, she said “drug dealers don’t care about safeguards and are profiting at the expense of our communities.”
Tucker spoke about how drug trafficking can impact all kinds of communities.
“As a community we’re well aware of the dangers that fentanyl has posed — we’ve seen it in the downtown area, in this case you’re seeing it brought out to the suburbs,” he said.
Global News spoke to Ange Freer, who said she has lived at the condo building for about seven years.
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She said she was disturbed to hear about the investigation as she moved to the area to “get away from that kind of chaos.”
“Boom — here it is on my doorstep,” she said. “(It’s) very troubling because with that type of activity comes guns and random shootings.”
While Freer said she was concerned to hear her a condo in her building was part of a drug-trafficking investigation, she believes the problem is “everywhere.”
She added that she was particularly troubled because her building has a lot of children and dogs living in it and it can be hard to prevent them from touching or sniffing things on the ground.
The raids saw police seize:
- 1,023 grams of fentanyl
- 2,080 grams of cocaine
- 3,000 grams of cocaine buffing agents
- 130 grams of MDMA
- $48,739 cash
ALERT noted that two vehicles were also seized. The law enforcement agency said the seizures are the result of an investigation that began in October 2023.
“The investigation remains ongoing as investigators prepare reports and disclosure for Crown counsel,” ALERT said in a news release.
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