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Network Bust More Than Luck

Network Bust More Than Luck

At first glance, it would seem that a barbershop in Sherwood Park would have little to do with a drug investigation in Fort McMurray, nearly a four-and-a-half-hour drive north. But the two became linked in an unlikely way for ALERT’s organized crime and gang team in Fort McMurray during the summer of 2018.

In August, ALERT announced the results of Project Fortune, a 16-month-long investigation that shut down a drug trafficking network that stretched from Fort McMurray to Sherwood Park. When all was said and done, investigators had arrested seven people and laid 49 criminal charges, and had seized eight kilograms of cocaine along with $215,000 in cash proceeds of crime.

Because of that massive haul, Project Fortune was called “Christmas in August” for the Fort McMurray team at a news conference held at ALERT headquarters in Edmonton. But primary investigator Const. Kevin Browne says that, while it’s important to get those drugs off the streets, maybe the bigger feather in the team’s cap was being able to lay charges of conspiracy to traffic cocaine, committing an indictable offence for the benefit of a criminal organization, and instructing a person to commit an indictable offence for the benefit of a criminal organization.

“They’re difficult; they have to be approved by the federal Crown prosecutor before they’re laid. And if they sign off on it, that means we’ve done a thorough job and we’ve been able to meet that high standard,” Browne said. “To get that, I think that’s a big feather in our cap up here, especially to do it as a relatively small team.”

After receiving information from Strathcona County RCMP about drug trafficking activity that possibly traced back to Fort McMurray, Browne and the rest of the ALERT team got to work. Thankfully, the RCMP information gave them a nice head start.

“We were ready to go into buying wholesale, and we had that foothold there. We were already five steps ahead,” he said. “We knew immediately that we were going to be in a long-term operation; we saw the potential for it.”

But they still didn’t know a whole lot about the network in Fort McMurray and just how big it was. Browne and his team came up with different scenarios and strategies to find out how deep the network went in their community.

It was a project that took up most of the team’s time and resources over those 16 months, but Browne worked hard to keep everyone involved in making decisions giving input on next steps.

“I’m very much objective-focused. A lot of times on files like this, guys are chasing the shiny objects and it gets really expansive. It’s hard to keep people buying in if you keep moving the goalposts,” he said. “If you’re really objective-focused and you get them to buy into the process, they’ll stay focused.”

That kind of focus on the bigger picture also requires quite a bit of patience. “Evidence gathered in our investigation led us to believe that a conspiracy and criminal organization existed, and we went about gathering further evidence to support that,” Browne said.

“If we just get one guy for drug trafficking, that’s easy; we could just stop them on the highway. But our goal was to dismantle the network and go for that criminal organization. Those are harder charges to prove, but they also carry bigger penalties. That’s what we were looking for.”

Since 2022, CISA has been guided by four pillars that focus the effort to promote an integrated, intelligence-led approach to combating organized crime; these are:

  • Building Relationships with Stakeholders;
  • Promote Intel Sharing Across the Province;
  • Being Proactive and Identify Emerging Trends; and
  • Investing in Our People Through Training and Development

 

Criminal Intelligence Service Alberta (CISA) has recently developed an Alberta Firearms Intelligence Centre (AFIC) to equitably expand access to firearms intelligence for all law enforcement agencies within Alberta. AFIC will provide timely, accurate, and actionable intelligence to law enforcement agencies and policy-makers to achieve the shared and collaborative goals of increasing public safety concerning firearm-related crimes.

Protecting Kids Online | Internet Child Exploitation

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

2023-24

2022-23

2021-22

FILE INTAKES

680

872

1,149

1,114

3,815

2,994

2,764

SUSPECTS CHARGED

22

16

34

37

109

81

125

CHARGES LAID

87

45

123

160

415

351

413

CHILDREN RESCUED

26

78

56

43

203

46

100

EXHIBITS SEIZED

335

368

545

476

1,724

1,243

1,845

TOTAL PHOTOS/VIDEOS

262,400

511,133

1,374,310

606,254

2,754,097

2,551,921

13,260,819

Stopping Human Trafficking | HUMAN TRAFFICKING & COUNTER EXPLOITATION

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

2023-24

2022-23

2021-22

SUSPECTS CHARGED

13

10

7

4

34

30

76

CHARGES LAID

79

46

87

19

231

96

157

VICTIM INTERVENTIONS

30

29

17

37

113

28

22

Intelligence & Expertise | CISA / Training

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

2023-24

2022-23

2021-22

INTELLIGENCE REPORTS

409

296

327

442

1,474

1,560

1,318

TRAINING COURSES

5

3

8

11

27

36

25

CANDIDATES TRAINED

321

56

135

350

862

933

638

Disrupt & Dismantle Organized Crime | Combined Special Forces Enforcement

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

2023-24

2022-23

2021-22

SUSPECTS CHARGED

40

27

42

32

141

197

168

CHARGES LAID

176

156

237

231

800

1,088

820

FIREARMS SEIZED

105

53

26

48

232

102

126

EST. VALUE OF DRUGS SEIZED

$906,814

$553,851

$2,725,161

$1,148,337

$5,334,163

$10,898,269

$334,093,020

PROCEEDS OF CRIME SEIZED

$218,133

$52,970

$130,996

$230,195

$632,294

$1,432,847

$21,740,617

ANNUAL Regional ResultS

ARRESTS

CHARGES

FIREARMS

DRUGS

PROCEEDS

CALGARY

24

110

14

$937,422

$65,881

EDMONTON

17

131

45

$592,839

$272,446

FORT MCMURRAY

8

78

4

$352,942

$144,301

GRANDE PRAIRIE

7

17

13

$192,145

$31,855

LETHBRIDGE

7

29

44

$349,773

$51,245

LLOYDMINSTER

24

93

41

$164,134

$12,504

MEDICINE HAT

37

179

13

$293,108

$7,861

RED DEER

17

163

58

$2,451,800

$46,201

TOTALS

141

800

232

$5,334,163

$632,294

Organized Property Crimes | Auto Crimes

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

2023-24

2022-23

2021-22

SUSPECTS CHARGED

1

1

2

1

10

CHARGES LAID

11

47

STOLEN VEHICLES

23

15

1

6

45

245

118

RECOVERED ASSETS

$1,432,000

$941,025

$108,000

$260,000

$2,741025

$8,420,500

$3,919,500

Firearms investigations | Firearms lab & Gang suPpression teams

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

2023-24

2022-23

2021-22

FIREARMS EXAMINATIONS

349

351

243

235

1,178

EXHIBIT EXAMINATIONS

1,316

1,409

891

1,099

4,715

SERIAL NUMBER RESTORATIONS

31

34

19

24

108

IBIS SUBMISSIONS

343

421

1,334

304

2,402

GUN SEIZURES

1

14

15

SUSPECTS CHARGED

4

22

26

CHARGES LAID

41

144

185

Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) involves images and/or videos that depict the sexual abuse of minors – the majority of which involve prepubescent children. Often, CSAM involves explicit and/or extreme sexual assaults against the child victim (Cybertip.ca).

Learn more about Internet Child Exploitation and ALERT’s integrated teams combatting this issue.

Ghost Guns are illegal, privately manufactured firearms or lower receivers. These weapons are often made with 3D-printers, and undermine public safety due to their lack of licensing requirements, serialization and safety controls.

Learn more about Ghost Guns on ALERT’s dedicated Privately Manufactured Firearms info page