Four arrested in Rosenort cocaine investigation

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This article was published 28/07/2016 (2821 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A two-year cocaine trafficking and importation investigation ended in multiple arrests after police searched a property in Rosenort yesterday, Manitoba RCMP say.

Four men from both Manitoba and Ontario were arrested after a lengthy investigation revealed a criminal group moving large amounts of cocaine from Mexico into Canada.

Police seized over two kilograms of cocaine and identified sophisticated concealment methods which enabled the cocaine shipments to cross international borders undetected.

On July 28, officers from the Manitoba RCMP searched a rural property near Rosenort.

The same day, Ontario RCMP, along with members of the Canadian Border Services Agency, Essex County OPP, and the Chatham-Kent Police Service searched several properties in the Leamington area, in relation to the investigation.

Frank Banman, 35, from Rosenort was charged with conspiracy to traffic cocaine and cocaine possession.

Daniel Tiessen, 48, from Leamington, Ontario was charged with conspiracy to traffic cocaine and conspiracy to kidnap.

Jacob Thiessen, 29, also from Leamington was charged with conspiracy to traffic cocaine and conspiracy to kidnap

Jay Shanks, 56, also from Leamington was charged with conspiracy to kidnap.

“The result of this joint investigation demonstrates that provincial and international borders do not insulate organized crime from prosecution,” said Manitoba RCMP Insp. Tim Olmstead in a release. “This also re-enforces the fact that the RCMP and its partner agencies work effectively together to keep illicit drugs out of our communities.”

The investigation is ongoing, RCMP say.