Article content
Two Winnipeg women aged 32 and 30 face drug trafficking charges after 24 kilograms of cocaine worth $2.4 million was seized in their luggage at Winnipeg Richardson International Airport in May.
Article content
In the spring, Winnipeg Police’s Organized Crime Unit, with the assistance of the Brandon Police, began a drug trafficking investigation. A drug trafficking network was operating in Winnipeg and also supplying traffickers in the Portage la Prairie and Brandon areas.
“While several locations in Winnipeg were initially identified as possible target locations, investigators observed two females leaving a location on Marywood Avenue on several occasions travelling to the Winnipeg (Richardson) International Airport,” said Insp. Elton Hall of the Organized Crime Division at a press briefing on Tuesday. “These females generally left and returned on the same day within a 24-hour period.”
On May 11, police arrested the two women who had just disembarked a domestic flight from British Columbia at the Winnipeg Richardson International Airport.
Article content
“Officers were positioned in the baggage carousel area and arrested both females once they obtained their checked bags and attempted to leave the airport,” said Hall, standing behind a table with 22 bricks of cocaine stacked beside two large suitcases.
Search warrants were obtained and the cocaine was seized from their luggage, Hall said.
The two women have been charged with possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. Authorities in British Columbia were advised of the arrest, Hall said.
They were both released on Undertakings as mandated by the Criminal Code.
glen.dawkins@kleinmedia.ca
X: @SunGlenDawkins
Have thoughts on what’s going on in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada or across the world? Send us a letter to the editor at wpgsun.letters@kleinmedia.ca
Share this article in your social network