Drugs, $120K in cash seized during busts in Saskatchewan and Alberta

A massive drug bust has resulted in charges against seven people and the seizure of large amounts of cocaine, meth and cash.

In a media release Monday, the Saskatchewan RCMP said its Regina-based Federal Serious and Organized Crime Unit (FSOC) started an investigation in October of 2020 into a drug operation in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

The Mounties said the suspects were distributing drugs in centres like Regina, Saskatoon and Moose Jaw, but also in smaller communities like Assiniboia, Marquis, Mossbank, Caronport, Hudson Bay, Limerick, Craven and Lloydminster.

After police did some 7,000 hours of surveillance in Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan, more than 60 judicial authorizations were executed, seven people were charged and what the RCMP called “a significant amount of illicit drugs and currency” was seized.

Searches turned up 397.5 grams of cocaine and 2.97 kilograms of methamphetamine near Chamberlain, 452.7 grams of cocaine in Fort McMurray, Alta., and 1,540 grams of Meclonazepam (or approximately 5,000 fake Xanax pills) in Edmonton.

(RCMP/Submitted)

Another search in Edmonton found an additional 7,662.21 grams of Meclonazepam (or approximately 25,000 fake Xanax pills), 40.01 grams of cocaine, 659.49 grams of psilocybin (mushrooms), 39.54 grams of MDMA and $123,652 in Canadian currency.

A total of 70 charges were laid against five people from Edmonton, one person from St. Albert, Alta., and one person from Vaughan, Ont. One of the individuals from Edmonton remains at large.

“These types of groups profit by poisoning our people and our communities — both in big cities and small towns,” Insp. Andrew Farquhar of the RCMP’s Federal Serious and Organized Crime Unit said in a media release. “We’re really pleased to have taken these harmful substances out of our communities.”

More than 20 law enforcement agencies participated in the investigation.