A year-long investigation netted Calgary cops over a dozen arrests and a record total amount of narcotics, they said yesterday.
Calgary police have charged 14 people and seized an estimated street value of $8 million in cocaine, four handguns, a rifle and $330,000 in cash during Operation High Noon, which targeted drug trafficking by an alleged organized crime group.
The investigation focused on large amounts of cocaine being transported across the B.C.-Alberta border and is the largest total cocaine seizure in Alberta’s history, police said.
“It illustrates the high volume of cocaine that passes through our city,” said Staff Sgt. Darren Cave of the Calgary Police Service.
In January 2008, the Calgary police seized 67 kg of cocaine in two separate raids on a northwest Calgary home. This led the Calgary police, along with other policing agencies in B.C. and Alberta, to investigate others alleged to be involved, said Cave.
“These individuals were alleged to have used a number of vehicles with hidden compartments to transport drugs between the provinces,” said Cave.
Cave said police stopped these vehicles during transport and seized another 13 kg of cocaine. Search warrants executed later resulted in the seizure of packaging for 20 more kilos of coke.
Of the 14 people arrested, 13 were from Calgary and one was from Surrey, B.C.
