An intercepted call and intentionally leaked information led RCMP to the Manitoba Finance official accused of helping a major drug and contraband cigarette trafficker avoid getting busted.A special investigations unit for Manitoba Finance investigates contraband cigarette smuggling.Manitoba Finance’s Donavon Sired was charged with bribery, breach of trust and conspiracy as a result of Project Dawgpound launched in May 2022.Sired is scheduled to next appear in court Jan. 8, 2024. Project Dawgpound disrupted a multi-commodity criminal network centred in Manitoba..“From the outset of these calls, it is clear that the organization is paying someone to advise them when there are investigations happening on the highway,” RCMP Statement of Facts.Sired was one of 20 people arrested last spring in the sophisticated illegal operation with tentacles stretching from Manitoba to Vancouver, Calgary, Pickering, Ont., Toronto, Moncton, N.B., and Prince Edward Island.Among those arrested was Amanda Boulanger, who worked as a Corps of Commissionaires guard at the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health in Winnipeg.Manitoba ringleader Hue Ha was sentenced last month to 11 years in jail for the drug trafficking and cigarette smuggling operation.RCMP Criminal Intelligence Section and Divisional Criminal Analysts Section investigators determined Ha or a designate would head to Ontario to pick up drugs and unstamped cigarettes, then bring them back to Manitoba.Ha was arrested last December when returning to Winnipeg from Toronto. Police seized three kilograms of cocaine and $10,000 in cash. In all, RCMP seized $2.5 million in drugs (cocaine, ecstasy, crystal meth, prescription pills, and magic mushrooms), Crazy Indians gang patches, 19 firearms including seven semi-automatic rifles, and contraband cigarettes that would have brought $1.47 million in tax revenue..During an intercepted call, RCMP learned someone was tipping Ha off about enforcement plans regarding contraband cigarette sales, according to the statement of facts reported by the CBC Wednesday.During one call, Ha spoke of bringing 50 to 60 boxes of cigarettes from Ontario to Winnipeg.“From the outset of these calls, it is clear that the organization is paying someone to advise them when there are investigations happening on the highway,” according to the statement of facts. RCMP leaked information to Manitoba Finance investigators about the seizure of 71 cases of cigarettes from one of Ha’s couriers. That led them to Sired.A Manitoba Finance investigator was heard on an intercepted call telling an associate of Ha’s to get avoid police by getting off the highway, said the statement of facts.During the investigation RCMP installed a recording device in Ha’s vehicle and learned he was buying cocaine from Ontario connections.Court documents say Ha would transport drugs himself, use couriers, or ship them by FedEx to supply dealers in Winnipeg, Brandon, and several rural Manitoba communities.Security guard Boulanger was paid $200 to hold a cocaine-filled backpack for Ha. She stored and trafficked drugs while at work. Boulanger pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic cocaine and received a two-year conditional sentence to be served in the community.At a press conference last May, RCMP hailed the success of the investigation.“Project Dawgpound yielded fantastic results and got a kilo-level trafficker and his network off the streets,” said Inspector Grant Stephen, in Charge of Federal, Serious and Organized Crime for Manitoba RCMP.
