Several kilograms of meth, fentanyl and cocaine seized by RCMP trafficking team in southern Sask.
A month’s long investigation by Saskatchewan RCMP has led to one arrest and the seizure of several kilograms of narcotics in the village of Hodgeville.
Sask. RCMP’s Trafficking Response Team (STRT) as well as Swift Current General Investigation Section (GIS) began an investigation in January of 2023 into the “inter-provincial drug trafficking activities” of 41-year-old Keenan Leith Ireland.
Based on investigative findings, RCMP believed that Ireland was actively trafficking drugs into southern Saskatchewan from Alberta and discovered his residence in the village of Hodgeville.
On March 23, police executed a search warrant on a property on the 100 block of 2nd Avenue East.
Ireland was found at the residence and was arrested without incident.
In the seizure, a large sum of cash, 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine, one kilogram of fentanyl, 0.5 kilogram of cocaine and between 40-50 small vials of cannabis resin were found.
A second seizure on the same day was executed at a home on the 100 block of Grey Street in Swift Current, RCMP explained.
Approximately nine ounces of methamphetamine and half an ounce of cocaine was found.
“A few grains of fentanyl can be enough to kill you – I hope the quantity we have seized in this investigation can help to paint a picture of the magnitude of the danger this drug leaves in our communities if it is untraced,” Superintendent Glenn Church, officer in charge of the RCMPS Sask. Enforcement Response Team (SERT).
“This was a significant seizure which will greatly impact the supply of the lethal drugs originally destined for southwest Saskatchewan.”
As a result of the investigation, Ireland faces several trafficking related charges.
He made his first appearance on these charges in provincial court in Swift Current on March 24.
The investigation is ongoing, according to the RCMP.
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