Manitoba Warriors cocaine trafficking network busted by RCMP

Six people have been arrested as part of an investigation into a cocaine trafficking network that supplied drugs from Winnipeg to the Grand Rapids area in central Manitoba.

"Illegal drugs are insidious and fund many different types of crime. Our officers and intelligence experts worked tirelessly on this investigation for many months in order to take, not only drugs and guns, but gang members off the street," said RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Paul Manaigre.

"The RCMP has seen the destruction caused by the trafficking of illicit drugs and we will continue to enforce the laws against this to their fullest extent."

The investigation, nicknamed Project Deadbolt, started in September 2017. Just a couple of months into it, on Nov. 12, officers stopped a car heading to Grand Rapids on Highway 6.

In it, RCMP found a 567-gram package of cocaine and a Manitoba Warriors vest. The two men in the vehicle were arrested.

"They attempted to bring a large volume of cocaine to Grand Rapids and unfortunately for them, they were caught," Manaigre said.

Officers linked the package to a Grand Rapids man and his parents. The man, a full patch member of the Warriors, was already in Headingley Correction Centre on unrelated charges.

He was arrested and his parents were arrested at their home.

The final arrest, on Feb. 14, was a man who was an associate member of the Warriors and one of the drug suppliers. He was arrested in Winnipeg where police also seized a shotgun, rifle and collapsible baton.