Police from all over central Alberta are to credit for a successful end to a two month multi-jurisdictional investigation which cracked down on street level drug sales in communities.
The outcome of the operation was 19 people facing 82 drug related charges and proceeds of crime offenses.
The undercover operation began on Dec. 5, 2007 and came to a close on Feb. 14 when the RCMP Red Deer Federal Drug Section targeted drug trafficking in many communities in central Alberta to help address the needs of safety. Involved with the operation were Red Deer, Camrose, Lacombe, Sylvan Lake, Rocky Mountain House, Rimbey, Innisfail, Olds, Didsbury, Bashaw, Coronation, Consort, Ponoka, Stettler and Red Deer rural detachments.
“It’s something that takes place on a fairly regular basis and communities obviously identified a need for the operation to come in and specifically look at street level trafficking,” said Cpl. Wayne Oakes media relations officer for the RCMP K Division.
Investigators have gained reasonable grounds to believe the 19 persons are responsible for the offenses, as charged under the provisions of the Controlled Drug and Substances Act (CDSA) and the Criminal Code.
From Ponoka Alan Antoine Pohl, age 34 was charged with two counts of trafficking a controlled substance and two counts of possession of proceeds of crime.
Oakes was pleased with the results of the operation and the professionalism of the officers involved.
“What strikes me as significant is that we have police from the federal, municipal and provincial levels all working together,” he said. “It’s an excellent example of the seamless delivery of police service.”
The search for street level drug sales is not over and police will still be monitoring it to help keep the streets and communities safe.
“We do recognize that there probably is not a community in the province that is not affected by trafficking in some way,” said Oakes.
Oakes believes that the trafficking of drugs is not harmless and leads to destructiveness in other areas of the community.
“The use of illicit drugs does not only impact the user, it impacts the whole community,” he said “It’s more than just a crime of opportunity, it leads to other negative consequences that impacts the entire community.”
The controlled substances that were seized during this operation included cannabis, powder and crack cocaine and ecstacy. Amounts ranged from one gram to the pound weight.