The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) announced today the seizure of over 2 kilos of Heroin with a street value of $250,000.
On December 9, 2008, Border Services Officers at the CBSA Commercial facility requested inspection of two courier shipments destined for separate Winnipeg and area addresses. An inspection of the packages revealed the drugs concealed inside two wooden game boxes wrapped as Christmas gifts. The drugs were seized and turned over to RCMP.
RCMP Winnipeg Drug Section assisted by the Integrated Proceeds of Crime Unit, various RCMP support Units, Postal Inspectors with Canada Post Security and Investigation Services and CBSA continued investigating this matter that lead to the arrests of three individuals.
Harpreet Kaur BAINS (female 28 years) of Surrey, BC was arrested on December 17th in Vancouver, brought back to Manitoba and will appear today for a bail hearing.
Amanda l. KUBUBECK (28 years) of Winnipeg and Tracy Lynne PONGRACZ (29 years) of Stony Mountain, MB were both arrested on December 18th and released to appear in Court February 5th, 2009 in Winnipeg.
All three individuals will face the following charges:
• Unlawfully possess for the purpose of Trafficking a controlled substance, to wit: Heroin
• Conspiracy to Import into Canada from the United Kingdom, a controlled substance, namely Heroin
• Conspiracy to commit the indictable offence to wit: Traffic a controlled substance, namely Heroin
• Unlawfully Traffic of a controlled substance, to wit: Heroin
• Unlawfully Import into Canada a controlled substance to wit: heroin
As part of this investigation with the assistance of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) an additional 2 kilos of heroin was seized in the USA.
The investigation showed that Manitoba was not the intended end destination. Manitoba has a very small sub-culture of heroin use.
This is the largest drug seizure of heroin by CBSA at the Winnipeg Commercial facility and by RCMP in Manitoba. “Seizures of this magnitude show that the CBSA and the RCMP are making a real difference in protecting Canadians” said Mike Styre, CBSA Regional Director General for the Prairie Region.
This investigation reiterates the tangled web of organized crime where Manitobans were recruited into their network. Organized Crime has no borders or boundaries.
“Organized crime impacts all Canadians, not only in urban centres but reaches into every community, regardless of size” said Insp. John Ferguson, Officer in Charge of the RCMP Winnipeg Drug Section and Integrated Organized Crime.
The RCMP in Manitoba is fighting crime networks with an integrated strategy that includes cooperation between different police services local and abroad, provincial and federal agencies as well as partnerships with organizations impacted by organized crime.
If you have any information about this case, or if you have witnessed or are aware of an incident involving suspicious cross-border activity, please contact the CBSA Border Watch Toll-free Line at 1-888-502-9060.
Sgt. Mike Ramsay
RCMP Winnipeg Drug Section
Winnipeg, MB
Tel: (204) 983-3021
or
Loretta Nyhus
CBSA – Communications
Winnipeg, MB
Tel: 204-984-0261
