A major drug trafficking operation in south Winnipeg has been disrupted, police say, after they seized more than 26 kilograms of cocaine they valued at $1.5 million.
A 40-year-old man and a 32-year-old woman were arrested following an organized crime unit investigation centred around a home on Satinwood Place in the St. Vital neighbourhood.
The man was arrested on Sept. 16 while leaving the home with three kilograms of cocaine, police said in a news release on Tuesday. The woman was arrested at another residence.
A search of the Satinwood home resulted in another 23.5 kg of cocaine being seized, in addition to the three kilograms the man had in his possession.
Police also found about $780,000 in Canadian currency, a stun gun, prescription pills, drug packaging materials and other drug paraphernalia, they said at a news conference.
The man is charged with multiple drug- and firearm-related offences as well as possession of proceeds of property obtained by crime.
The woman is charged with several drug-related offences as well as possession of proceeds of property obtained by crime, possession of a prohibited or restricted weapon and assault with a weapon against an intimate partner.
The drug seizure and arrests come five months after police announced the largest drug bust in Manitoba history.
In that case, 33 people were arrested and more than $37.2 million worth of cocaine, meth and fentanyl was seized, along with guns, cash and illegal cigarettes, police said at a news conference in May. More than 525 kilograms of controlled substances were seized, with the majority confiscated in Winnipeg in late April.