Suitcases with bundles of cash, cocaine worth up to $46,000, a busy house with frequent visitors, and more pointed to cocaine trafficking, said a police expert at a Red Deer drug trial on Friday.
Testimony from RCMP Staff Sgt. Mark Anderson, in charge of Manitoba’s Integrated Organized Crime Task Force, was part of the three-week trial in Court of Queen’s Bench.
Ahmed Nur, 31, is charged with drug possession for the purpose of trafficking. The charge stems from a police raid on two homes in Red Deer, as well as on a storage unit in Edmonton in July 2011.
On Friday, Crown prosecutor Patricia Giroux presented police surveillance notes and photos from the investigation.
Police observed people exiting a Jamieson Avenue home multiple times to go to vehicles making a quick stop nearby. Others made brief visits into home.
When a search warrant was executed, police found 5.5 grams of cocaine, about 75 grams of marijuana, and a digital scale at the home.
Police discovered about 567 grams of cocaine at a Jordan Parkway home where the accused lived along with $6,000 in a safe and a money counter.
A vehicle the accused stored at another residence in the city contained 5.6 grams of cocaine and hundreds of small jewelry baggies.
When Nur was arrested, outside a storage facility in Edmonton, he had two suitcases containing a total of $55,000 in bundled cash.
Anderson, an expert in organized crime and drug trafficking, said the behaviour at the Jamieson home was consistent with street-level trafficking.
“It’s quick. There is no need for further conversation,” Anderson said about the interactions police observed.
He said Nur was likely a mid-level dealer judging from his effort to protect himself from detection by living at Jordan Parkway home being leased by a woman with a child.
Anderson said also Nur had a money counter to deal with large amounts of money and surveillance photos showed Nur handing off what appeared to be larger amount of a white substance.
The trial before Justice Charlene Anderson continues on Tuesday.
szielinski@www.reddeeradvocate.com