Canadian Authorities Drop Charges in Large Cartel Connected Trafficking Network ~ Borderland Beat

Ricco King the alleged leader of the organization, who has ties to both Calgary and Halifax, was one of the five people who walked away from their charges. This is the second time in five years he’s escaped international drug import charges.

Last week, federal Crown prosecutors stayed all charges faced by King, Jarett Mackenzie, 34, Elias Ade, 40, Abdul Akbar, 39, and Kari-Lynn Grant, 53; the alleged leaders and those facing the most serious offenses.

The move came one day before lawyers for the accused were to make a Jordan application, where they were set to argue the charges should be dropped because of unreasonable delay in getting the case to trial.

At the same time, defense lawyers were fighting in federal court for the disclosure of information the attorney general didn’t want to overhand due to national security concerns. The disclosure involved investigative techniques used by the RCMP.

Federal court filings show that the day after the stays were issued, the attorney general filed a notice of discontinuance on all matters, meaning prosecutors won’t have to hand over any of the information the government was fighting to keep secret.

The Public Prosecution Service of Canada refused to explain the decision to issue the stays but sent CBC News a statement saying the Crown fulfilled its duty to “continually assess whether there remains a reasonable prospect of conviction based on the admissible evidence.”

“The prosecution has assessed that no longer remains the case,” wrote the PPSC.

Mackenzie’s lawyer, Gavin Wolch, praised the Crown for “keeping an objective eye on the merits of the prosecution.”

“Like any machine with a lot of moving parts, a prosecution like this is a massive undertaking where if one part fails, the machine can collapse,” Wolch said.

Akbar’s lawyer, Faizan Butt, referenced an accused person’s right to full disclosure and the right to a timely prosecution as “basic fundamental principles of justice.”

“The remedies for a violation of these principles, which are enshrined in the Charter, can often lead to harsh results,” Butt said. “But they are necessary in a democratic society … and serve as procedural guardians for our justice system.”

McNeil says Project Cobra is “undoubtedly one of ALERT’s biggest successes and the impact of this investigation will be substantial.” Coughlan said Operation Cobra didn’t just “cut off the head of the snake” it “took the whole damn snake.”

The investigation resulted in 15 people facing 80 charges, including drug trafficking, organized crime, money laundering and firearms offenses. Now nearly all of the arrests have been kept.

Two of Ricco King’s homes, multimillion-dollar mansions in Halifax and Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario were seized by police. Investigators also seized two Lamborghinis, a Porsche, multiple other luxury vehicles and other assets considered, at the time, to be proceeds of organized crime.

Murder Connection

Among those arrested was Talal Fouani. Just weeks after he was initially charged with organized crime offenses, he was shot alongside his wife as they sat in their Bentley outside their southwest Calgary home.

Nakita Baron, 31, died of her injuries. Fouani survived.

In 2020, Fouani testified against his former friend and business associate Cem (Jim) Can at an Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) hearing. Can was arrested along with two Hells Angels associates, accused of extortion and kidnapping related to a stock deal gone bad. The charges were later dropped because of concerns about the credibility of the alleged victim.

At the time of Fouani’s plea, the charges faced by his sister and brother were stayed.

A week after Baron was killed, Michael Tyrel Arnold, 34, of Sherwood Park was arrested by Edmonton police and charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder. But police and prosecutors have not publicly connected him to the organized crime case.