Press Release: 2023 CACP Award of Excellence for Combating Organized Crime

08/25/23 - 08/25/28

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 22, 2023

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ALERT Calgary Organized Crime Team 1 and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police “K” division receive the 2023 CACP Award of Excellence for Combating Organized Crime

OTTAWA, ONTARIO – The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) is proud to announce the winner of an award recognizing the contributions of individuals and/or teams who have exhibited excellence, innovation, and initiative to detect, disrupt, and dismantle criminal organizations.

This year’s CACP Award of Excellence for Combating Organized Crime was presented to the ALERT Calgary Organized Crime Team 1 and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police “K” Division for Project AL-COBRA.

The investigation took place between 2020 and 2022 and uncovered a crime group importing multi-kilogram loads of methamphetamine and cocaine from Mexico into Canada via the United States (U.S.). The drugs were imported into Canada through land borders (via authorized and unauthorized ports of entry) using ships, transport vehicles, and on foot.  During Project AL-COBRA, the team used diverse and creative overt and covert investigative tactics to gain intelligence and evidence which would lead to highly coordinated enforcement actions in Canada and the U.S.

The ALERT Team members built strong relationships with home agencies and supporting agency members across Canada and the U.S. to reach investigative objectives while maintaining a high level of operational security throughout the investigation. They worked diligently with a host of law enforcement partners to ensure that the investigation would successfully culminate in dismantling this criminal group on a wide scale stretching from Calgary to the East coast of Canada. 

The investigative team’s tenacity, creativity, and investigative maturity during Project AL-COBRA led to the complete dismantling of this organized crime group’s ability to provide large quantities of controlled substances to vulnerable citizens while selfishly gaining significant profit from their ill-gotten gains.

The results of the investigation were stellar. Eleven search warrants were executed with over $184,000 in cash seized, 302 pounds of methamphetamine valued at $8.2 million seized, nineteen firearms seized, fifteen high-end vehicles valued at over $1 million dollars seized, fourteen accused persons, and a business from the financial sector charged criminally with approximately 78 charges ranging from CDSA, to money laundering, to firearms, to participating in a criminal organization. Finally, approximately $5 million dollars in properties/assets in Alberta, Ontario, and Nova Scotia were criminally restrained.

Organized crime knows no borders, so policing efforts must also be global in nature. Project Al-Cobra is an excellent example of how transnational policing efforts are possible and are successful in generating impactful results when it comes to combating organized crime.

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For further information or to arrange a media interview, please contact:

Natalie Wright
Communications Manager
communications@cacp.ca 
613.838.8807