Authorities say they have put a dent in a high-level drug trafficking operation from Toronto operating in multiple Canadian provinces and allegedly responsible for bringing large quantities of drugs and guns into Manitoba.
The Winnipeg Police Service’s “Project Lowkey,” which began in April 2024, involved nearly a dozen searches in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It’s led to the seizure of weapons, cocaine, methamphetamine, hydromorphone pills, vehicles and cash.
It’s also resulted in the arrest of nine individuals – mostly from Ontario but also from Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the U.S. who are facing dozens of charges. Arrest warrants have been issued for five more suspects – four from Ontario and one from Alberta.
Police allege the group used “sophisticated methods” to transport illicit drugs from Toronto to Winnipeg, where they were then distributed in the city and throughout Manitoba, including in Portage la Prairie, Thompson, Sandy Bay First Nation, Norway House Cree Nation, Tataskweyak Cree Nation (Split Lake), Nelson House Cree Nation and The Pas.
Transportation methods, police allege, included passenger vehicles, chartered buses, parcel shipping companies and commercial airlines.
“This investigation highlights the capabilities of organized crime groups to extend their reach beyond provincial borders to target communities across the country, including some of our most vulnerable communities in northern Manitoba,” Winnipeg police said in a news release.
The operations of the organized crime group also allegedly reached Newfoundland and Yukon.
As part of “Project Lowkey,” authorities say searches were executed Jan. 31 at nine homes across Winnipeg, Thompson, Sandy Bay, Toronto, Brampton, Scarborough and Saskatoon.
Among the items seized, according to police, were seven handguns with loaded high-capacity magazines; ammunition; 10 kilograms of cocaine; five kilos of meth; 25,000 hydromorphone pills worth approximately half a million dollars; two vehicles; and $280,000 in cash.
Ontario’s Jabreel Elmi – one of Canada’s most wanted suspects – was among the nine individuals arrested. He was wanted for first-degree murder in connection with a triple shooting that claimed the life of a 27-year-old City of Toronto employee in September 2021.
Warrants are out for the arrests of Ontario’s Mohammed Abdirahman, Rahim Khan-Mogakala, Marquez Lerma-Jordan, and Nathan Sylvester, and Alberta’s Aaron Wolf-Plume. All are facing charges of conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.
Police say the investigation received assistance from RCMP, OPP, Toronto police, Vancouver police, the Saskatoon Police Service, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and the Manitoba First Nations Police Service (MFNPS).
