Police have arrested two known gang associates and two others after a five-week investigation into a cocaine manufacturing operation.
Two homes were raided on Wednesday — one in Forest Lawn and one in Hidden Valley.
Police charged four people in connection with the 1.8 kilograms of cocaine seized, worth $183,620. Police also seized two loaded guns and other weapons and drugs.
All four suspects remain in custody until their bail hearings, possibly Friday, but acting Staff Sgt. Gord Eiriksson of the organized crime unit was happy they were behind bars, at least for the time being.
“These are all indicators of gang-related activity, of organized crime and of the ongoing violence that we see throughout the city,” Eiriksson said of the bust.
While the bust itself wasn’t huge in terms of what police seized, they said it’s good news for Calgarians.
“It definitely helps. We got two loaded guns off the street with ammunition … one bullet, one gun can ruin not just one but many people’s lives,” Eiriksson added.
District 4 Insp. Ray Robitaille said the people lived in the home where they were allegedly turning cocaine powder into cocaine rock.
“It also goes to show that clearly with the quantity of cocaine that this is definitely for production and commercial sale. (Crack cocaine), there is a high demand for it,” he added.
Suspects Lisa Nguyen, Eric Thomas Tse, Ryan Park Hung Li and Stefan Lee face numerous charges including production of cocaine, possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, possession of property obtained by crime and illegal possession of weapons.
