Search warrant reveals details of Yellowknife drug investigation

Last April, at a podium in the Yellowknife RCMP mess hall beside a table of cocaine, pills and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, RCMP Sgt. Dean Riou of G Division Federal Investigations Unit talked about the investigation that led to the bust.

"I think we basically hit the head of the network," said Riou.

"A lot of times we have difficulty targeting at that high level. In this case, we found an investigative opportunity that we were able to follow up on."

Details of the investigation that led to that bust at a Finlayson Drive home are contained in a search warrant that was recently made public. The warrant was issued on the basis of sworn statements by RCMP officers but none of the details or allegations has been proven in court.

The "investigative opportunity" may have come courtesy of a keen-eyed RCMP officer five months earlier.

In November 2014 the officer was patrolling Yellowknife when he noticed a local man who has been involved in the cocaine trade in the back of a black pick-up truck. The officer did not recognize the driver, but did see a way to find out who he was — the licence plate light on the truck was burned out.

He pulled the vehicle over. The driver gave his name as William Castro. The 23-year-old had no driver's licence. He had been convicted of drug trafficking in Vancouver two months earlier. Castro was violating a curfew condition of his probation. He told the officer he had just moved to Yellowknife. He had $1,370 in cash and two cell phones in his pockets.

The officer seized the cash. Castro was charged with breaching his probation and driving without a licence and released.

A month later, Castro walked into the Yellowknife RCMP station and claimed the cash that had been seized from him. Shortly after that, the same officer who made the traffic stop recognized Castro in the Yellowknife Boston Pizza.

Then the RCMP got word from the Vancouver Police that two of the people targeted in a major fentanyl and cocaine investigation dubbed Project Tainted had just flown to Yellowknife.

In early February 2015 another patrol officer spotted Castro with one of the two Project Tainted targets driving around town in a rental vehicle. The RCMP followed them as they went to Northland Utilities, SSI Micro and The Brick, where they bought a coffee table and two end tables. They were setting up house.

The RCMP continue to keep an eye on the two men over the next few weeks. An informant gives them the phone number of the other man who, at 5 feet 10 inches 300 pounds, is easy to stand out. The informant says a large native male calling himself Tyson is selling powdered and crack cocaine.

Police call one of the two cell numbers the informant gives them and attempt to make a buy. But the person who answers the phone asks who the caller is and where they got the number. The police make up a story — a woman at a local bar gave them the number. The person who answered the phone says she will call back. But instead, a woman claiming to be the woman police said gave them the number calls. She asks where and when they got the number from her. The police make up another story but abandon the attempted buy due to safety concerns.

In mid-February in Vancouver, Project Tainted culminates in the execution of search warrants on 10 homes, eight vehicles and one storage locker. Vancouver police seize 29,000 fentanyl pills, 14.5 kilograms of cocaine, 19.5 kilograms of marijuana, a kilogram of methamphetamine, 500 grams of heroin, three handguns and $261,000 in cash.

By the end of February and going into March, the Yellowknife RCMP are watching Castro and his large colleague closely as they come and go from a row house on Finlayson and a storage locker in Kam Lake — both rented to Castro. The two make short stops around town doing what police believe are drug deals out of their car.

On April 15th they apply for and get a search warrant for the storage locker. They find 562 grams of crack, 180 grams of powdered cocaine and 502 fentanyl pills, two stolen guitars and an airport security ID and uniform. The list of items they seized runs 15 pages, but 80 per cent of it is censored from public view.

On the strength of that search, the same day they apply for a warrant to search the Finlayson Drive home Castro is renting and living in. There, police find an electronic money counter and $212,955 in cash, 47 grams of cocaine, 90 fentanyl pills and 269 grams of marijuana.

Castro and another man, 47-year-old Hassen Abdul Mohamed of Burnaby, B.C., are arrested at the house. Mohamed is already facing drug trafficking charges in British Columbia. Both are charged with numerous counts of drug trafficking and possession of proceeds of crime as well as probation breaches.

Castro is scheduled to appear in court later this month. No date has been set for Mohamed's next appearance.

UPDATE April 20, 2017: William Castro pleaded guilty to four charges on Dec. 21, 2015, including possession of fentanyl, marijuana and cocaine for the purposes of trafficking. After spending one year in remand, he was sentenced to serve five additional years in prison.