City man charged in Hat drug bust

Working with fellow law enforcement across southern Alberta, Medicine Hat police have arrested two people and seized more than a kilogram of methamphetamine.

“This is the largest one-time seizure we’ve had in Medicine Hat in our history,” said ALERT Medicine Hat’s S-Sgt. Cory Both on the arrest made by the city’s organized crime team in the earlymorning hours of Friday, when a planned vehicle stop was initiated just inside city limits on Highway 3.

In the trunk of the rental vehicle, investigators found 1.02 kilograms of meth and 226 grams of cocaine, worth an estimated $125,000.

The driver — 47-year-old Shonna Scriven of Medicine Hat — was charged with two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking and possessing the proceeds of crime. She remains in custody, with her first court appearance set for Thursday.

Simultaneously arrested in Lethbridge was 28-year-old Michael Abate, who was charged with drug trafficking and possession of proceeds of crime. He remains in custody and is due in Lethbridge court on Wednesday.

Police believe the drugs were being transported into the city by way of Lethbridge, and was meant to supply Medicine Hat and the immediate area.

“This (kilo) is 36 ounces, so this is wholesale quantities. We’re dealing with dealers who deal to dealers here. They’re up the food chain quite a ways,” said Both, adding that the average lower-level dealer possesses one to three ounces on average, while users usually purchase one to 3.5 grams.

“In every gram there’s approximately 20 doses of methamphetamine ... So when you’re talking about a kilo seizure, you’re talking about 20,000 doses taken off the street.”

It’s a “little more rare” to make arrests for higher-ups in the drug-dealing chain, said Both. “It certainly takes a little more effort to get there.”

He credited community members in providing good information, and the investigators who got “into the ground level of this group to navigate their way up the food chain, to get up to the second or third tier of a drugtrafficking syndicate and actually seize wholesale quantities of the drug.”

The seizure shows the growing methamphetamine problem within the community, police say. Last year in its entirety, MHPS seized 1.47 kilograms — up 300 per cent from 2015. To date in 2017, ALERT has seized 3.25 kilograms of methamphetamine.

“In this one seizure we’ve seized almost as much as we did the whole year last year. This year the count is almost one third of our total seizures this year,” said Both.

Both estimates this supplier was one of three or four main groups moving meth through the city.

“Taking him out of the picture is huge, it makes a significant dent in the methamphetamine supply chain, but there’s still others we’ll contend with,” said Both, explaining that arresting dealers at any level creates a vacuum others will fill up.

“We just have to be diligent in our enforcement and investigations, and continue to keep these guys in check,” he said.