Manitoba drug bust: 15 arrested, nearly 60 guns and 10 kg of cocaine seized

A year-and-a-half RCMP investigation across southern Manitoba led to 15 arrests, 67 charges, nearly 60 firearms, and over 10 kilograms of drugs.

Project Dolor: Major southern Manitoba crackdown yields 15 arrests and nearly 60 firearms

Google News CA — Crime (EN) reports that a sweeping 18-month police investigation across southern Manitoba has resulted in 15 arrests, the seizure of nearly 60 guns, and more than 10 kilograms of cocaine and psilocybin mushrooms.

Thirteen of those arrested have been charged with a combined 67 drug and gun trafficking offences following property searches across 10 communities over the past month, Manitoba RCMP announced Tuesday. The operation, known as Project Dolor, was launched in December 2024 after Winkler police alerted the RCMP to multi-kilogram cocaine shipments being imported into a business in the Winkler area.

"We did make a definite dent," Superintendent Jeff Asmundson told reporters at a news conference in Winnipeg. "There will be other traffickers [who] will try to fill that void, because there is a demand, but I think we … made a definite impact."

Two additional Winnipeg men were arrested, though charges against them remain pending, Asmundson said.

The investigation grew to include the Manitoba Integrated Law Enforcement Team after investigators from multiple police forces determined that firearms and additional narcotics were also moving through the criminal network. That network operated across Carman, Manitou, La Rivière, Thornhill, Morden, Winkler, Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, McCreary, Winnipeg, the rural municipality of Stuartburn, and other locations throughout the province.

The first arrest came in February, when Mounties stopped a 28-year-old man from Carman during a traffic check and found two kilograms of cocaine and a prohibited handgun in his vehicle. That man was subsequently charged with 29 offences, including multiple drug and firearms trafficking counts.

Subsequent search warrants executed over the past month at residential and commercial properties in Winkler, the RM of Stuartburn, Thornhill, La Rivière, and McCreary produced eight kilograms of cocaine, 2.5 kilograms of psilocybin mushrooms, 13 restricted handguns — three of which had been illegally trafficked — and 44 non-restricted firearms, the majority stored unlawfully.

RCMP and Winkler police also seized four vehicles valued at an estimated $110,000, thousands of rounds of ammunition, 228 cartons of unstamped tobacco, and $4,500 in cash.

Manitoba Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said the operation demonstrated the value of inter-agency collaboration. "This is a testament to how that co-ordination between law enforcement agencies … can make a difference," Wiebe said. "We want to disrupt the organized crime in our province, we want to stop illegal drugs from … devastating our communities and we want to keep communities safe, and this is how we do it."

Source: Google News CA — Crime (EN)