4 charged after labs raided, cocaine seized

Three men and a woman have been charged after a five-week Calgary police investigation into a cocaine trafficking and manufacturing operation.

The four people, all in their 20s, were arrested after police raided two homesin the Forest Lawn and Hidden Valley communities on Wednesday.

Police said they seized:

• 1.8 kg of cocaine, estimated to have a street value of $183,620.
• 10.6 grams of ecstasy worth about $760.
• A loaded Glock-27 .40-calibre handgun.
• A loaded .9 mm Walther PPK semi-automatic pistol.
• Ammunition.
• Body armour.

"These are all indicators of gang-related activity, of organized crime and of the ongoing violence that we see throughout the city," acting Staff Sgt. Gord Eiriksson of the organized crime unit said Thursday.

Officers also seizeditems used to convert powder cocaine to crack cocaine.

"It results in additional charges and it also goes to show that clearly with the quantity of cocaine that this is definitely for production and commercial sale," said Insp. Ray Robitaille of District 4about the drug conversion material.

The four face a total of 36 charges, including production of cocaine, possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, possession of property obtained by crime and illegal possession of weapons.

Two of the suspects have faced drug charges before, and are known gang associates, said Eiriksson who did not name the gang.

He acknowledged the suspects belong to one of the two warring groups Fresh Off the Boat (FOB) and Fresh Off the Boat Killers (FOBK) that have taken their grudges to Calgary streets with deadly, daytime shootings.