Участник:RCMP Exposes Money Laundering Plan At Winnipeg Casino
An RCMP investigation found that a Winnipeg man tried to launder large amounts of illegal proceeds through casinos in the city after trafficking drugs to a remote First Nations community. The Project Doom investigation began more than a year ago after Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries contacted police about suspicious activity at the Winning Game property.
RMPC officers arrested Mohammad Riyadul Hawke, 30, of Winnipeg. He will face charges of fentanyl trafficking, cocaine trafficking, money laundering and possession of criminal proceeds. However, he was released on CA$50,000 bail with conditions such as a curfew and was banned from entering a casino, racetrack or bar with a VLT.
Tara Seel, media relations officer for the RCMP in Manitoba, said the gunman brought a lot of cash into the casino, bought casino chips and then cashed in the chips as a means of covering up the links to criminal activity. But she didn't provide an exact number of money that was supposedly laundered, but it was a lot of money.
They also searched the man's home and found cash and various drugs and seized two vehicles, 498 grams of crack cocaine, 882 oxyContin control pills, also known as fentanyl, 241 Percocet tablets, 26 Gabapentin tablets and 348 unknown pills, Mounties said.
Mr Hawke is due in court this week over the alleged trafficking. The RCMP also said it believed drugs were flowing into remote First Nations communities in the state. This includes Lake Red Earbury, Garden Hill, Lake Island, and St. Teresa's Point, along with Lake North Spirit in Ontario.
Elvin Flett, chief executive of St. Teresa's Point, has claimed his community is in the middle of a drug crisis and out of control. St. Teresa's Point detailed the main entry points for drugs because they are fly-in communities for most of the year. But without the authority to conduct any searches at the airport, the chief said, the flow of drugs could not be stopped.
Ontario is dealing with a similar issue Ontario also has to deal with suspicious cash activities at casinos, according to Inspector General Lisick's annual report. In her latest report, she found that the number of suspicious deals after spitting surgery was relatively small, but varied across casino properties, and advised Ontario lottery and gaming companies to address the issue.
In May 2023, two former RCMP executives called for a full investigation into hundreds of millions of dollars in shady cash transactions at casinos. They suspect the large amount of cash was illegally acquired.