Trafficker got tips from Manitoba Finance official to avoid getting caught with illegal cigarettes: court doc
A Winnipeg man who led a drug trafficking ring used tips from a Manitoba Fi‐ nance official to avoid get‐ ting caught with illegal cig‐ arettes, and paid a security guard to hold a large amount of cocaine, a court document says.
Hue Ha was sentenced to 11 years in prison in Novem‐ ber for orchestrating a drug trafficking and cigarette smuggling operation that swept up the Manitoba Fi‐ nance official and a security guard at the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health.
He was arrested as the re‐ sult of an RCMP investigation dubbed Project Dawgpound, which began in May 2022 and led to over 20 arrests, along with the seizure of kilo‐ grams of drugs.
Part of the investigation involved placing a recording device in Ha's vehicle, which had a hidden compartment used to transport drugs and cash, according to an agreed upon statement of facts in Ha's case.
During the course of their investigation, police learned that Ha was buying cocaine from his connections in On‐ tario to sell in Manitoba, ei‐ ther transporting himself us‐ ing his vehicle or shipping it via FedEx, the court docu‐ ment says.
Ha then supplied other dealers in Winnipeg, as well as a number of remote and rural Manitoba communities, in‐ cluding Ashern, Poplar River and Norway House, through his connections.
He was arrested last De‐ cember, when police stopped him on way back to Winnipeg from Toronto. At the time, they seized three kilograms of cocaine and more than $10,000 in cash.
Information leaked on police enforcement: court doc
In addition to trafficking in co‐ caine, methamphetamine and oxycodone, Ha was also sell‐ ing illegal cigarettes with the help of an investigator with Manitoba Finance who was leaking information about police enforcement plans, the statement of facts says.
Investigators learned this after intercepting one of Ha's calls, in which he was heard talking about bringing 50 to 60 boxes of cigarettes to Win‐ nipeg from Ontario.
"From the outset of these calls, it is clear that the organi‐ zation is paying someone to advise them when there are investigations happening on the highway," the statement of facts says.
To identify the source, police intentionally leaked in‐ formation to investigators at Manitoba Finance about a re‐ cent seizure of 71 cases of un‐ stamped cigarettes from couriers who were working for Ha.
That revealed the source of the leak, after the investiga‐ tor was heard on an inter‐ cepted call telling one of Ha's associates to get off the high‐ way to avoid police, according to the statement of facts.
Donavon Sired — a mem‐ ber of the special investiga‐ tions unit for Manitoba Fi‐ nance, which typically investi‐ gates cigarette smuggling — was charged with bribery, breach of trust and conspir‐ acy as a result of the investi‐ gation. His next court date is on Jan. 8, 2024.
Guard exploited due to financial situa‐ tion: lawyer
The investigation also led to the arrest of Amanda Boulanger, who was working as a Corps of Commission‐ aires guard at the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health — the complex in Winnipeg that's home to the federal Public Health Agency's National Mi‐ crobiology Laboratory and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease.
Boulanger pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic co‐ caine, admitting that she held on to a backpack full of co‐ caine for Ha in November 2022 in exchange for $200.
During her sentencing on Nov. 6, defence lawyer Jason Poettcker told the court Boulanger is a single mother who dealt with "a terrible amount of instability" in her life.
Court heard that Boulanger had a traumatic upbringing and spent much of her childhood living in poverty, with her and her sib‐ lings often lacking enough food to eat.
Poettcker argued that Ha had befriended Boulanger and exploited her when he re‐ alized she needed the money.
"Ultimately, she made a bad choice because of that situation," he said.
Boulanger received a twoyear conditional sentence, which she will serve in the community.
The 11-year prison sen‐ tence for Ha was a joint rec‐ ommendation from his de‐ fence counsel, Kristen Jones, and federal Crown prosecutor Janna Hyman, which took Ha's heavy involvement with the trafficking operation into account.
At Ha's sentencing, provin‐ cial court Judge Sandra Chap‐ man remarked that it was a lengthy sentence for some‐ one with no prior criminal record, but accepted the rec‐ ommendation.
"When the cost of doing business is 11 years of your life, that's a significant cost," Chapman said.