A months-long investigation by Winnipeg police led to multiple arrests and the confiscation of several kilograms of drugs, including fentanyl, in February.
The investigation began in September 2021, officers say when members of the WPS guns and gangs unit received intelligence about drug networks travelling across Canada trying to gain a foothold in smaller cities.
According to Insp. Elton Hall, this kind of strategy is quite strange in the eyes of police.
“All I can tell you is they came in and they tried to establish themselves quickly, sell as many drugs as they could, and I guess try and get a piece of the market here,” he said.
“I’ve really never seen this in 23 years, but this is a bit of a trend going on in some other cities in Canada as well.”
Shortly after the nomadic drug groups arrived in Winnipeg, officers observed an increase in violence as a result of their activity.
“You could see an uptick in gun violence pretty quickly in October,” he said. “That, combined with the intelligence and information from people in the community, heightened gang activity, you know, unusual activity in apartment buildings, et cetera. We just began an investigation into this.”
In late November, WPS with the help of Brandon Police Service seized a semi-trailer and arrested three suspects. A quantity of drugs –19 kilograms of methamphetamine, two kilograms of fentanyl, one kilogram of cocaine – and $40,000 cash were confiscated by police.
Police continued with the investigation, and in February executed three search warrants which led to two males being arrested and nine kilograms of methamphetamine, eight ounces of fentanyl and roughly $100,000 being seized.
All five suspects arrested were detained in custody.
“It’s significant not only to get the drugs off the street, but to make sure these individuals were arrested, disrupted and essentially forced out of the city by the guns and gangs unit,” said Inspector Hall.
“The guns and gangs unit did a really nice job in identifying who the individuals were and dealing with it right away.”