Send this page to someone via email

Alberta’s Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) has made arrests in connection with what it calls a major cocaine trafficking network operating out of Edmonton, Sherwood Park and Fort McMurray.

The team said it seized more than $1 million worth of cocaine and cash, and laid 49 charges against seven people after the lengthy investigation called “Project Fortune.”

“Project Fortune was a 16-month investigation into a wholesale cocaine distribution network,” ALERT Communications Director Mike Tucker said at a news conference Friday morning.

ALERT searched three homes in north Edmonton and two homes in Fort McMurray, where a total of eight kilograms of cocaine and $215,000 in cash were seized.

Tucker said the criminal network supplied large amounts of cocaine to the Edmonton area and in Fort McMurray.

“Eight kilograms is a substantial seizure. That’s a lot to get off the street,” Tucker. “But bear in mind, that was what was seized at any given moment in time. Throughout this investigation it was clear that this group had the capacity and wherewithal to conduct large scale supply.”

Story continues below advertisement

READ MORE: $4M in fentanyl, cocaine and meth seized in one of Alberta’s largest drug busts

One of the Edmonton homes, in the Eaux Claires neighbourhood, is believed to have been used to package and press cocaine, ALERT said.

Alert says the street level sales would have been discreet at the barbershop, saying not everyone would have known or been involved. #yeg — Julia Wong (@JWongGlobalNews) August 3, 2018

The enforcement response team said it launched an investigation in March 2017 after exchanging information with Strathcona County RCMP regarding the Barbero Barbershop in Sherwood Park allegedly being involved in cocaine trafficking.

Tucker said that tip launched the entire investigation, allowing police to piece together a bigger picture of the wholesale cocaine trafficking and distribution network.

“Along with that, investigators were able to identify the hierarchy and structure of the organized crime group behind it,” Tucker said.

He said investigators believe the barber shop was involved on the lower end of cocaine trafficking. “I guess you’d classify it as ‘street level sales,'” he explained.

“From there, as I mentioned, we were able to work up the chain, so to speak, and undertake an end-to-end investigation looking at the suppliers, the distributors, with a successful conclusion of the whole network being dismantled.” Tweet This

A barber shop at 137 Seneca Road in Sherwood Park, Alta. where Alberta police believe drugs were being trafficked. August 3, 2018. Julia Wong, Global News

READ MORE: $62K worth of drugs seized in Grande Prairie bust

ALERT alleges the network operated under the direction of Ali Ameen Elamki, 27, and Mohamed Rachid Torbeih, 33. The two Edmonton men are facing a list of charges, including conspiracy to traffic cocaine and committing an indictable offence for the benefit of a criminal organization.

Story continues below advertisement

Five other men — Ryan Arthur Jones, 21, Jamil Mohamed Razian, 33, Mohamed Mounir Torbeih, 29, Sidney Chudek, 21, and Ismail Hajar, 30 — were also arrested and charged.

Wood Buffalo RCMP, Edmonton police and St. Albert RCMP were also involved in the investigation.