Winnipeg police bust drug trafficking ring, find $375K in fentanyl, $200K in cash, several guns

Winnipeg police have made a major drug bust in an investigation they began in the spring.

Police said their drug enforcement unit, the guns and gangs unit, the tactical support unit and the Central Division community support unit identified several people involved in a high-level drug trafficking ring.

On June 22, they raided two homes, one in the 500 block of St. Mary’s Avenue and one in the 800 block of Waverly Street.

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Inside those homes, they found:

Three men — Keaton Brayden Ellis, 26, Branden Anthony Ellis, 27, and Johnathan Michael Pace, 29 — face drug trafficking and possession of property obtained by crime charges.

Insp. Max Waddell said the current pandemic means people are stressed and turning to different things to cope, and some who are addicted are using more of their drug of choice.

He said overdose deaths are continuing to rise in Winnipeg.

Right now, he said police are seeing a heroin/fentanyl mix on the streets.

“Many, many drugs we’re seeing on the streets is currently contaminated with fentanyl,” he said.

Asked about the “instruction manual” police found, Waddell said it was a first.

“I can’t ever recall where there was an instruction manual left for us to see,” said Waddell. “Basically it was A to Z … how the operation ran was detailed in there.

“Clearly they didn’t follow their guidelines.”