ALERT seizes $1.4M worth of drugs in Edmonton bust

EDMONTON Hefty bags filled with a hazardous, powdered cutting agent impart the large scale of a cocaine trafficking operation that allegedly took place in a northwest Edmonton apartment, police said Thursday. On Thursday morning, Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) showed reporters a table filled with bags of cocaine, ketamine and buffing agent phenacetin seized last month, mostly from a Pembina-area apartment around 137 Avenue and 127 Street.

Police have charged a 26-yearold Edmonton man with possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking after the three-month project, dubbed Operation Elegance. The man is also charged with possession of the proceeds of crime.

Officers confiscated $1.4-million worth of drugs, including 11.37 kilograms of cocaine, 902 grams of the mind-altering painkiller ketamine, and 84 kilograms of phenacetin.