THE CALGARY DRUG BUST
Police nicknamed the investigation “OPERATION HIGH NOON” and focused on their efforts on a crime network that allegedly transported large volumes of cocaine from British Columbia to Alberta.
CALGARY POLICE SPOKESPERSON SGT. CAVE SAID,
“Over a several month period these individuals were alleged to have used a number of vehicles with hidden compartments to transport drugs between the provinces. It was during the transportation that police were able to stop these vehicles and seize another 13 kilos of cocaine. A total of 80 kilos cocaine was seized between January and December 2008. In addition, police executed numerous search warrants and recovered the packaging for an addition 20 kilos of cocaine. That reflects the level of sophistication of the group in moving more than 100 kilos of this drug”.
“Staff Sergeant Bossley of the Calgary Police Department was the lead investigator in the Operation High Noon Investigation
This was a joint investigation into the transportation of cocaine being shipped from B.C. to Alberta. The investigation was conducted by the Drug Undercover Street Team called BUST. The operation began NOVEMBER 2007 and ended December 2008.” Police Departments from Victoria, Vancouver and Lethbridge, along with RCMP officers in Cranbrook and Osoyoos took part in the High Noon Operation.
“OFFICERS HAD BEEN WORKING ON THE INVESTIGATION FOR ABOUT TWO MONTHS when, around 9:00 pm Tuesday, they witnessed what they believed was a drug transaction between TWO vehicles.” The vehicle search led the officers to a home on Hawthorne Drive in NE Calgary,
The Operation High Noon began at approximately the same time the crime phone used in the Lindsay Buziak Murder was purchased. Police from Victoria were also involved in this investigation along with other departments. The crime phone used in Lindsay’s case was activated just 24 hours before she was murdered and the phone then traveled to the Island 24 hours before her murder. Erickson Delalcazar was denied bail one day before Lindsay was murdered ON February 1, 2008. Erickson and Graham Scott Taylor were the first two to be arrested on January 22, 2008, while the remaining individuals were not arrested until months later.
January 22, 2008 – 25 kilos of cocaine seized that night – and 217,000 in cash.
January 28, 2008 – 42 kilos of cocaine was found in the safe that was seized on Jan 22/08.
A few months months later another 13 kilos was seized.
A total OF 80 kilos
After wrapping up a year long investigation that led to charges against TWELVE Calgarians and 2 British Columbians – the police said that this criminal organization that used hidden compartments in vehicles to funnel cocaine into Calgary has taken a serious hit,
At approximately 9 p.m., on Tuesday, January 22, 2008, members of the CPS Drug Unit conducted a traffic stop in the 300 block of Hawthorne Drive N.W. Calgary. Inside the vehicle officers discovered 5 kilos of cocaine worth an estimated $150,000. An additional $105,000 in cash was also found. Further investigation led drug unit officers to a home on the same block.
A search warrant on the home revealed a further 20 kilos of cocaine worth an estimated $600,000, – as well as another $112,000 in cash. Police also seized three handguns and a rifle from the home and during the execution of the search warrant at the residence, a large safe was located in the garage. This safe was opened on Monday, January 28, 2008. Inside, police discovered 42 kilos of cocaine, valued at $1.26 million.
In the months following the initial bust the police found an additional 13 kilos of cocaine cleverly hidden in VEHICLES in what was referred to as a sophisticated operation. The active part of the investigation ended in December 2008. “Police held off on announcing the ENTIRE SCOPE of the seizures until prosecutors could ascertain with certainty that they could lay trafficking conspiracy charges – an offence rarely alleged by local authorities.” Police also seized $330,000 in cash from the suspects in an investigation that involved police force throughout B.C. and Alberta.
“SGT. CAVE said: investigators believe the operation which was disrupted in Calgary has links to a distribution network spread through the United States, beyond that to Mexico and South America. The involvement of police in Victoria suggests the cocaine may be transported from Mexico along the coast — avoiding the United States and coming in through Victoria, Authorities believe the lack of marine border security on the coast leaves an “open gate for drug smugglers.”
THE PEOPLE CHARGED WITH DRUG OFFENCES IN CONNECTION WITH THE OPERATION WERE:
Alycia Lynn Faithful-Lebrun, 26, of Calgary;
Christian Balmore Zepeda 27 of Calgary,
Thuan Xuan Ngo, 33 of Calgary,
An Xuan Go 27 of Calgary,
Kayla Elizabeth Wright 24 of Calgary,
Duncan Howard Bailey 24 of Calgary,
Keven James Wambolt 23 of Calgary, Miguel Ernesto Rivas Franco 28 of Calgary, Leopoldo Fernando Rojo Beltran 34 of Calgary
Anthony Raymond Middlekoop, 25, of Calgary;
Carlos Enrique Aguirre, 41, of Calgary;
Roberto Stanley Olmedo-Rajo, 26, of Surrey, B.C.
Graham Scott Taylor, 30, of Calgary;
Erickson Lopez Delalcazar, 28, of Victoria
MIGUEL RIVAS FRANCO AND ALYCIA FAITHFUL-LEBRUN
are also charged with conspiracy to traffic in narcotics. As conspiracy charges incur stricter penalties the Crown is seeking 15 to 20 year sentences for Miguel Rivas Franco and Alycia Faithful-Lebrun. Leopoldo Fernando Rojo Beltran is married to Miguel and Medardo Rivas’s sister. Edwardson/ Sandy Del Alcazar is best friends with Medardo Rivas and Miguel Rivas is the best friend of Erickson Delalcazar
LINDSAY WAS MURDERED THE DAY AFTER ERICKSON DELALCAZAR WAS DENIED BAIL There was a rumor that Lindsay snitched on Erickson. The rumor was false. Who knew that Lindsay was going to Calgary and who was privy to people she would be in contact with while on that visit?
COURT TRANSCRIPTS
RE: An Xuan Ngo and Thuan Xuan Ngo
http://www.canlii.org/eliisa/highlight.do?text=An+Xuan+Ngo&language=en&searchTitle=Alberta&path=/en/ab/abpc/doc/2010/2010abpc161/2010abpc161.html
RE: Kayla Elizabeth Wright, Anthony Raymond Middlekoop and Roberto Stanley Olmedo-Rajo
http://www.canlii.org/eliisa/highlight.do?text=kayla+elizabeth+wright&language=en&searchTitle=Alberta&path=/en/ab/abqb/doc/2012/2012abqb414/2012abqb414.html
Leopoldo Fernando Rojo Beltran, 34, was deported in 2000 and 2003, and now faces charges of returning without authorization.
http://www2.canada.com/story.html?id=168
In December 2007, Buziak visited her father in Calgary and, while there, met with old friends she grew up with. A month later, one of those men was arrested in connection with the largest cocaine bust in Alberta history.” “Buziak’s boyfriend, Jason Zailo, was the source for most of what police know about the killing. We don’t know why she was murdered, Sgt. Fast said, adding that whoever plotted the murder used the fact she was a real estate agent to lure her to the house. “That’s how it was set up.”
“INVESTIGATORS NOW KNOW THAT THE CELL PHONE USED TO CALL BUZIAK WAS PURCHASED IN VANCOUVER IN LATE NOVEMBER 2007
It was then activated in late January 2008 under the name of Paulo Rodriguez using a Davie Street downtown Vancouver address. Police have since determined that while the address exists, it is not connected with the crime. Police have determined that the cellphone was purchased under the name Paulo Rodriguez. This was an alias that investigators believe was “used as a diversion,” and brought to Vancouver Island from the Lower Mainland in the 24 hours before Ms. Buziak’s death.
COCAINE-SNORTING EXECUTIVES DRIVING DRUG TRADE: ALBERTA SOLICITOR GENERAL
THE CANADIAN PRESS · POSTED: SEP 25, 2008 4:56 PM MT | LAST UPDATED: SEPTEMBER 25, 2008
Fast-living executives and middle-class people who get high at parties are partly to blame for driving the drug trade and increasing gang activity, Alberta’s solicitor general said Thursday. Fred Lindsay said he has been told by police that the province’s booming economy has fuelled an appetite for illegal drugs among executives in Alberta’s office towers. Well-off Albertans who use illegal drugs are just as guilty of contributing to the problem as the street gangs who sell them, he said.
“We know that there’s people in the upper-middle-class and middle-class jobs who are using these drugs,” Lindsay said in an interview. “But they don’t relate to the fact that by the use of their drugs — whether it’s crack, cocaine or even marijuana – it contributes to the gang and the organized crime activity that we see on the streets.”
The solicitor general was responding to recent pressure from police chiefs in Edmonton and Calgary for more government money to recruit hundreds of new police officers. But hiring more police alone won’t break the crime cycle, he said. What’s also needed is for Albertans to stop buying drugs to feed their addictions.
Cocaine-snorting executives driving drug trade: Alberta solicitor general | CBC News
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