14 face drug charges following St. John's, Quebec raids

Several dozen police officers with search warrantsfanned out across the St. John's area Thursday morning, seizing drugs, cash and vehicles.

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary said Thursday that the raids "dismantled an organized criminal operation" that ran between Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec.

Eleven men and one woman in the St. John's area face charges from what the Royal Constabulary has dubbed Operation Roadrunner, an 18-month investigation in which the RNC collaborated with police in Quebec.

The Quebec provincial police's biker enforcement unit also arrested two men, in La Tuque and in Laval, during a co-ordinated raid, Const. Paul Davis said.

Police brought suspects individually to the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary offices near downtown St. John's.

"This operation is ongoing as we speak you just saw yourself police cars arriving with people in custody," Davis told CBC News as squad cars brought a woman and then a man into RNC headquarters.

"But we do know that there was cash, drugs, [and] we've seized some vehicles, as well as some other items as well."

The RNC arrested individuals living in St. John's, Portugal Cove-St. Philip's and Conception Bay South.

The accused, who were to appear in provincial court in St. John's on Thursday, are between 22 and 38 years in age. They face charges of conspiracy to traffic in cocaine and marijuana, and trafficking in cocaine and marijuana.

Davis said the RNC will comment on the investigation at a Friday news conference.