2 Winnipeg women arrested after trafficking investigation nets $2.4M worth of cocaine

Two women from Winnipeg have been charged after police say they were part of a cocaine-trafficking network operating out of the city thatsupplied drugs to Brandon and Portage la Prairie.

Winnipeg police began an investigation into the network in the spring and say theyobserved the women leaving a residence on Maryland Avenue several times, heading to the airport.

"These females generally left and returned on the same day or within a 24-hour period,"Insp. Elton Hall of the Winnipeg Police Service's organized crime division said Tuesday at a news conference.

On May 11, the women were arrested just after they arrivedat the airport on a flight from British Columbia. Hall said police seized 24kilograms of cocaine, with an estimated street value of $2.4 million, from their luggage.

The women,aged 30 and 32, arecharged withpossession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking.