Four members of a gang that law enforcement officers say has ties to Mexican drug cartels and are “an emerging public safety threat” have been arrested in Alberta.
Along with the arrests, officers executed search warrants at three Edmonton homes that resulted in the seizure of $600,000 worth of drugs and a number of weapons and body armour vests.
The arrests are the result of an investigation that began in August to look into the activities of La Familia gang which police are accusing of attempting to control drug distribution channels in Alberta.
The “cartel-affiliated group” was supplying drug lines in Edmonton, Fort McMurray, Drayton Valley, Lloydminster and Red Deer, police said in a news release.
La Familia is “an international support arm for the Mexican drug cartels and has strong ties to El Salvador gang Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13,” said the press release from the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team which carried out the investigation.
The Alberta chapter of La Familia wore a three-piece patch and had an established rank structure and club rules, according to ALERT which is an integrated unit consisting of officers from the Edmonton Police Service and the RCMP. It was established in 2006 to tackle organized crime.
ALERT also alleges that La Familia was pursuing new markets for distributing drugs and looking to “aggressively” recruit new members.
La Familia’s Alberta president Jose Antonio Monterrey, 33, was arrested on Dec. 11 when he was about to embark on a flight at Edmonton International Airport. Police also arrested Peter Alan Griffon, 34, Cody Sterling Tremblett, 28, and Penny Sue Fleming, 34.
The four people in custody face a combined total of 40 drug- and weapons-related charges including unauthorized possession of a firearm, careless use of a firearm and possession for the purpose of trafficking.
When police searched three Edmonton homes, they say they found five kilograms of cocaine, 2.7 kilograms of MDMA, 2 kilograms of a buffing agent, oxycodone pills, a cocaine press and $45,000 in cash which are believed to be the proceeds of crime.
Police say they also found rifles, a handgun, a sawed-off shotgun, a silencer, “thousands of rounds” of ammunition and body armour vests.
