RCMP in Manitoba say they have identified a multi-kilo, multi-commodity trafficker operating out of Winnipeg and have laid charges after discovering a leak believed to have stemmed from the Manitoba Finance Special Investigations Unit.

The operation was dubbed Project Dawgpound, and was initiated in May last year. In total RCMP say the investigation removed more than two and a half million dollars in drug value from circulation, as well as getting 19 firearms out of the hands of gang members and drug traffickers.

RCMP allege 36-year-old Hue Ha from Winnipeg was the orchestrator of large amounts of cocaine coming into Manitoba from Ontario. They say while his network reached into many Manitoba communities it also reached as far as Vancouver; Calgary; Pickering, ON; Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area; Moncton, NB; and Prince Edward Island.

Officer in Charge of Federal, Serious and Organized Crime for the Manitoba RCMP is Inspector Grant Stephen who said, “Project Dawgpound yielded fantastic results and got a kilo-level trafficker and his network off the streets.”

Investigators say it became clear that Ha had information regarding police enforcement plans and police narrowed that leak down to a specific investigator within the Manitoba Finance Special Investigations Unit. Donovan Sired, 50-years-old, from Winnipeg, was arrested and charged with Bribery of Officers, Breach of Trust by Public Officer, and Conspiracy to Evade Payment.

Ha was arrested and faces numerous charges from conspiracy to trafficking. He remains in custody. Twenty other individuals, residents of both Manitoba and Ontario, were arrested and are facing charges in relation to Project Dawgpound, including a Corps of Commissionaires guard at the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health in Winnipeg.

In total police seized 7.8 kilograms of cocaine, 327 tablets of MDMA, 13.82 kilograms of crystal MDMA, 116 grams of purple down, 139.45 grams of Carfentanil, 2.06 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, and 5 kilograms of psilcocybin (mushrooms). Investigators also seized firearms, vehicles, electronic devices, a large amount of drug trafficking paraphernalia, and Crazy Indians gang patches. Police contend that the contraband cigarette portion of the operation would have yielded the Manitoba taxpayer $1.47 million in tax revenue.