The Canadian Press
Last Updated Wednesday, April 3, 2019 2:36PM EDT
Police in Ontario say they've busted an international cocaine smuggling operation with links to Mexico and the United States after a large drug seizure at the border.
The investigation dubbed "Project Tattler" began in December 2017 and has led to the arrest of three Ontario men, the seizure of 55 kilograms of nearly pure cocaine and about $800,000 in cash, provincial police said Wednesday. The cash has been directly linked to Mexico.
"Illicit drugs are still being pumped into our communities and the culprits are sharing profits in the millions of dollars," OPP deputy commissioner Rick Barnum told reporters at a news conference in Barrie, Ontario; "We firmly believe this investigation has made a difference."
The Ontario Provincial Police said the drugs ended up in central, southwestern Ontario and in the Toronto area, according to Rick Barnum.
Police said the cocaine -- 90 to 96 % pure -- came into the country on a transport truck from California, but investigators have linked money in the alleged smuggling operation to Mexico, where the drugs may have originated.
"The individuals involved in this effort were well organized, they were very sophisticated and they had devised a distribution network that spanned three entire countries," Barnum said.
Police did not say just where the cocaine crossed the U.S-Mexico border, which Mexican drug cartel was allegedly involved or whether the operation had ties to organized crime groups in Ontario.
The cocaine haul was discovered after Canadian Border Services Agency officers, acting on information from the OPP and with help from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, stopped the transport truck on Feb. 19 as it tried to enter the country through Windsor, Ontario Int'l POE from Detroit , Michigan.
Inside the truck's cab, a drug-sniffing dog focused on a built-in speaker, authorities said.
There were two wires in the cab area of the truck that, when connected to a battery, opened a compartment hidden inside the speaker, said Detective Inspector Mark Loader; a highly sophisticated professionally designed compartment.
Using a variety of tools and after an "extended examination," officers managed to open the compartment, said Rick Comerford, a regional director with the Canadian border guards.
"It was definitely a professionally modified compartment and not something that is normally found in a commercial motor vehicle," Comerford said. Within that compartment, police said they found 55 one-kilogram bricks of cocaine.
Police have charged the alleged driver of the truck, Slobodan Poznic, 44 of Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., with importation of drugs and various trafficking-related offences.
Investigators have also laid drug importation and trafficking charges against Michael Nagtzaam, 35, of Springwater Township, Ont., and Abrahan Brito, 32, of New Tecumseth, Ontario, Canada.
Tell me if all illegal activity ceased how many people would be be out of a job🤔🤨
ReplyDeleteAllot....all that drug money goes into the economy one way or another. Culiacan Sinaloa would be a ghost town, Not the #1 city in the world for Rolex, Ferarri, Gucci. In America, many jobs would be lost, due to lack of money from illegal activities not being spent. The illegal drug biz is probably over $200-250b annually.
Delete3:04 "250 to 300 billion annually" do not come into the whole Mexican economy, much less into Sinaloa...
DeleteThere are no traffickers in the USA fake news.
ReplyDeleteOnother cjng bust
ReplyDeleteI like how they said nearly pure cocaine. I think that should be mentioned more often cause people like to know these things
ReplyDeletewe do
Deletelucky to get 15 percent these days..
had pure before
what a difference
That's the beautiful thing about living in southern cal, you can cross the border into mex to party and always get good shit. Good stuff is available in any border city
Delete@9:29, must be niiiiccccee. I’m too far up north to get raw.
Delete4:57 pure cocaine distributorships should be advertised on touristic blogs, there would be all those billions and billions of dollars safely earned in all those sanctuaries. Even carnadians would flock there all the time.
ReplyDeletebuilding wall ain't going to do anything ..whole province full of dope
ReplyDeleteSee how many clever ways criminals bring drugs into the USA.
ReplyDeletewtf is 55 kilos lol.. nothing
ReplyDeleteNothing for you maybe.
DeleteWondering if canadians still have an open door policy for Mexicans? Knowing too well that drugs and bad people are flooding poison into their country.
ReplyDeleteOh like the Canadian drug user is the victim? You make me laugh. If American drug users are no more a victim of their vice then neither is a Canadian.
ReplyDelete