Mafia cocaine bust in Canada

[Wiseguy]

RCMP bust sophisticated drug smugglers - cocaine mixed with asphalt
Examiner.com
February 5, 2015


Montreal RCMP reports Feb. 4, 2015, that a major traditional organized crime cell was dismantled by the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU). The highly technical and sophisticated smuggling process consisted of concealing the cocaine using 'molecular docking' in bags of asphalt. When the shipments arrived in Canada, a chemist would then extract the drug out of the asphalt.

CTV News reports: “RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Luc Thibault said they have never seen such a sophisticated method to smuggle in drugs. Thibault added that the Canadian Border Services Agency was instrumental in uncovering the scheme when they made a seizure in September 2011 at the Trudeau airport.

Border officers were suspicious of an unusually large commercial shipment of asphalt. They seized the bags totaling 700 kg and took a closer look at the cargo. The bags contained a grainy black and white asphalt mixture, which they later discovered included cocaine. The border officers used a special chemistry tool used to detect narcotics and explosives.

One can think of molecular docking as a process of “lock-and-key”, in which the cocaine and asphalt are combined - then the chemist can use the “key” which will open up the “lock” and then extract the drug when in Canada.

Fifteen arrests were made Wednesday morning in the Montreal, now facing charges of gangsterism, drug importation, trafficking and possession. The cocaine trafficking network was well-structured and aimed to control territory in the Montreal area as well as the Atlantic Provinces.

The investigators targeted the organization’s main leaders and key players forming the Silvano cell, reported by the Examiner in June 2014, called Project CLEMENZA that was initiated in 2010. “Police say the ring brought 75 kilos of cocaine to Canada every week and was among more than 100 people sought by provincial police in a massive anti-drug operation launched in 2012 against the Mafia and their associates.”

Testifying for Charbonneau corruption Commission, Mafia expert Valentina Tenti, who holds a doctorate in criminology and is an expert in the Italian Mafia states: “The Cosa Nostra, Camorra (Naples) and the 'Ndrangheta (Calabria) has long been the dominant Mafia group in Quebec, and they remain powerful and scary. Calabrian group has a strong presence in Canada, making $56 billion from various criminal activities, primarily through the drug trade with Colombia.”

Feb. 3, 2015, the BBC News Europe reports: “Italy's new President Sergio Mattarella "has promised to fight public corruption and organised crime in his first speech since being sworn in on Tuesday morning"

This is the same 'Ndrangheta or Calabrian Mafia organization widespread in Canada which has surpassed Cosa Nostra or the Sicilian Mafia as the country's most powerful crime group due to its obscene profits from controlling Europe's cocaine trade. Italian authorities have seized 350 properties worth 130 million euros ($147 million) from a businessman with suspected ties to the Naples-based Camorra.

http://www.examiner.com/article/rcmp-bu ... th-asphalt