Winnipeg bagel shop owner was ‘high-ranking’ member of drug trafficking network: police
Posted December 24, 2022 12:41 pm.
Last Updated December 24, 2022 12:44 pm.
Bundles of cash. Hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of drugs. And bagels.
Those are just some of the factors at play in an alleged drug trafficking ring that circulated large quantities of narcotics in Manitoba.
Chris Silva, one of the owners of Hudson Bagels in Winnipeg, is facing charges following a substantial police operation that investigated a network responsible for the distribution of cocaine and MDMA in the province.
Police allege Silva was a high-ranking member of the group.
Hudson Bagels on Winnipeg’s Sherbrook Street on Dec. 23, 2022. (Credit: CityNews/Morgan Modjeski)
Court documents detailing the investigation allege Silva’s responsibility within the network included collecting proceeds of drug trafficking transactions and shipping packages of cash associated to the operation to suppliers outside the province.
The operation by police, dubbed Onyx, employed a variety of investigative techniques and resulted in police directly observing quantities of cocaine worth roughly $1 million being handled, stored or distributed by members of the network.
Police say that investigation is ongoing and would not comment as a result.
The court documents allege police, in one instance, were able to covertly locate and inspect a Gucci bag, which contained $45,000. In another, police allegedly searched a package destined for Langley, B.C., and found $90,000.
That money was “bundled and packaged in a manner consistent with high-level drug trafficking and proceeds of unlawful activity,” according to the documents.
Cash associated with bagel shop accounts?
They also allege Silva would sometimes deposit large sums of money, upwards of $10,000 at a time – believed to be proceeds of crime – to accounts associated with the bagel shop on Sherbrook Street.
Silva’s business partner and wife Jessica Wylychenko, who owns 51 per cent of Hudson Bagels, said Friday the couple is not ready to weigh in on the allegations.
“There will be a time and a place for comment and it’s not now,” she told CityNews Friday, adding Silva was not home.
Legal proceedings around the case are set to continue in 2023.
