Police have arrested five more people and laid 31 new charges in an RCMP crackdown on cocaine trafficking in the Yorkton are.
Officers charged the five new suspects with a total of 19 counts including cocaine and marijuana trafficking and possession of the proceeds of crime.
Jeremy Mancheese from Valley River First Nation, Manitoba and Byron Berens from Yorkton face two counts each of cocaine trafficking and two counts each of possession of the proceeds of crime. Mancheese was nabbed by Roblin RCMP on a warrant issued by Yorkton and appeared in Yorkton court March 15.
A warrant has also been issued for Adam McKay, also from Valley river on cocaine trafficking and possession of proceeds charges.
Tlell Eipert from Yorkton is charged with two counts of trafficking marijuana, one count of trafficking cocaine and three counts of possession of proceeds.
Eliza Robichaud and Michael Cross each face one count of trafficking and one count of possession of proceeds, Robichaud for cocaine and Cross for marijuana.
All five suspects have been released on conditions and scheduled to appear in Yorkton court April 29.
In addition, the investigation unveiled 12 new charges for Jillian Fedun and Zachary Villeneuve who were arrested March 13 on marijuana trafficking charges ("More coke busts by RCMP," Yorkton This Week, March 20).
"Following their arrest, Yorkton police executed a search warrant at their residence on Fifth Avenue in Yorkton," Sgt James Morton of the General Investigations Section wrote in a press release Friday. "As a result of the search, police found further evidence of drug trafficking and production. They have been both charged with producing marijuana, producing marijuana oil, possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking and possession of proceeds of crime."
Indications last week were that the five-month, multi-agency investigation was winding down, but now the RCMP expects to make even more arrests over the coming weeks.
"It's a pretty dynamic investigation," Morton said. "Through further investigation we ended up revealing there were more people involved."
Morton said there is "absolutely no doubt" this big drug operation is related to the booming east central Saskatchewan economy.
"Whenever your economy gets better, there's more money to go around," he said. "They'll come in from all over the country to take advantage of the opportunity for profits," he said.
Investigators believe the cocaine is originating in B.C., but don't have any solid evidence there is a direct connection to gangs or organized crime in that province.
