13 charged in undercover police operation targeting drugs in downtown Halifax bars

HALIFAX – Halifax police have revealed details of a five-month undercover operation that targeted drug trafficking in the city’s downtown bar district.

The Drug Unit of the Integrated Criminal Investigation Division launched the operation in May, after several reports of people reacting adversely to the drug MDMA, commonly known as molly.

“We moved on it right away because of the reactions that people were having to these drugs. It became a concern as a public safety issue in regards to people hallucinating and reacting quite violently to the drugs,” said Staff Sgt. Darrell Gaudet, the officer-in-charge of the Drug Unit.

“We thought there may have been a bad batch of what we call molly on the streets.”

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Gaudet says the operation involved several undercover operators, who visited the local night clubs and attempted to buy drugs. They targeted both bar staff and patrons.

As a result of the operation, search warrants were executed in the 1200-block of Queen Street and the 100-block of Braemar Drive in Dartmouth on May 21.

A third search took place on September 23 in the 1600-block of Barrington Street.

Police seized cocaine, MDMA, marijuana, psilocybin, cash and drug paraphernalia.

Twelve men and one woman between the ages of 19 and 32 were charged a total of 30 offences — including trafficking, possession for the purpose of trafficking and possession of illicit substances.

While the operation is complete, police say their investigation continues. That means they will be reaching out to the bars and night clubs.

They’re also not ruling out additional arrests or charges.

“Talking to people and continuing with the investigation, there may be more charges. We just have to wait and see,” Gaudet said.

Police continue to warn about the dangers of molly, which is what prompted this operation back in the spring.

“Molly is a dangerous drug. It is manufactured by organized crime. It is not manufactured by a pharmaceutical company so we don’t know what’s going into those drugs,” Gaudet said.

“A lot of time, it’s a combination of a toxic chemical. So if you take these drugs with a combination of other drugs and alcohol you could have these reactions or worse you could die.”

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The following is a list of the people charged. Those with an asterisk beside their names were employees of a downtown establishment where it’s alleged they were trafficking.

• Jonathan George Laing, 26, Halifax – five counts of trafficking in cocaine, one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking in cocaine and one count of possession of the purpose of trafficking in MDMA
• Peter George Schmid*, 20, Dartmouth – four counts of trafficking in cocaine, one count of possession of cocaine and one count of possession of marijuana
• James Dean Veniot, 32, Dartmouth – two counts of trafficking in cocaine
• Chula Kanishkas Sahabandu*, 26, Halifax – two counts of trafficking in cocaine
• Trevor Stephen Fitt, 20, New Glasgow – two counts of trafficking in MDMA
• Jason Andrew Saldanha, 23, Halifax – one count of trafficking in cocaine and one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking in cocaine
• Mila Fraser, 22, Dartmouth – one count of trafficking in cocaine
• Erfan Keyghodabi*, 22, Halifax – one count of trafficking in cocaine
• Bryson Murphy, 21, Halifax – one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking in cocaine and one count of possession of psilocybin
• Mustafa Shahwan, 24, Halifax – one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking in cocaine
• Stephane Harm Goosens, 23, Halifax – one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking in cocaine
• Patrick Brown, 24, Halifax – one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking in cocaine
• Matthew Lawrence Hadfield-Power, 19, Dartmouth – one count of possession of cocaine and one count of possession of marijuana