TPS strengthened by ALERT partnership

Posted on July 18, 2025 by Taber Times

By Cal Braid
Taber Times
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

 A recent Times poll question revealed that a large majority of residents believe that the drug scene in Taber has become a significant problem. On June 19, Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) and southern Alberta police agencies held a news conference in Lethbridge to publicize their victories. The announcement came after a lengthy organized crime investigation in southwest Alberta led to charges against nine suspects.

ALERT’s Project Leadline was a two-year organized crime investigation that concluded when law enforcement seized large amounts of cocaine and restrained more than $2.5 million in assets linked to drug trafficking.

The operation was led by ALERT with help from the Taber Police Service, Lethbridge Police Service, and the RCMP.

According to the press release, “The investigation dismantled an extensive drug trafficking network that was also involved in money laundering activities. ALERT searched three Taber homes on April 29, 2025 and a series of arrests took place following that date.”

The criminal organization’s alleged leadership were among the nine suspects charged, and those nine individuals face a total of 63 charges related to participation in a criminal organization, drug trafficking, criminal conspiracy, and money laundering.

ALERT “criminally restrained seven properties and eight bank accounts allegedly linked to the group’s criminal proceeds of crime,” the press release said. After the fact, TPS Chief Graham Abela discussed Taber’s partnership with ALERT.

“We’re a partner in a couple ways,” he said. “I have two police officers now, and one starting in July here, that are seconded to alert. One works in a combined forces special operations unit, also doing serious and organized crime. Another one is going to work in human trafficking in Edmonton. And then a third one that I have is on the integrated child exploitation team (ICE) doing investigations regarding the abuse of children and child pornography.”

As the chief of police, Abela is one of the directors of the ALERT board that governs the teams, their $72 million budget, and 220 officers in the province. The joint management team consists of the board, the CEO, and an operations team.

For a small police service of 21 officers, Abela said Taber is quite involved with ALERT.

“ALERT does great things. These are complex investigations, and they involve lots of judicial orders and search warrants, but you also need capacity; you need surveillance teams and you need part six wire rooms,” he explained.

Which is more than Taber’s relatively small force can muster at a moment’s notice, so the link to ALERT gives it more of the capacity Abela spoke of.

“We need to partner together and create these special teams that actually are able to do that work together or on our behalf,” the chief said. “We gather intelligence, we take that intelligence and support it with evidence, and then we build an operational plan.”

“We put that into the joint management team, and they decide out of the dozens of files that might come in, which ones they’re going to target. So that’s kind of how it works, and that’s where they go and decide how much community harm is occurring. What’s the size of the file? And what’s the impact occurring to the community?”

Abela’s decades of experience and commitment to Taber’s safety surely benefit the town, too.

As for Project Leadline, the four suspects who were arrested are Duc Vo, 47-year-old from Lethbridge; Nga (Linda) Vo, 45-year-old from Lethbridge; Chantal Bareman, 40-year-old from Taber; and Ryden Melhalf, 20-year-old from Taber.

As of late-June, warrants had been issued for the remaining five suspects: Johan Braun-Suderman, 38-year-old from Taber; Kade Phillips, 26-year-old from Taber; Gerhard Wolf, 38-year-old from Taber; Malachy Young, 23-year-old from Taber; and a 19-year-old, who has been charged as a young offender.

At least two of those accused have been called in Taber court in July, and Phillips was apprehended after showing up but then fleeing from court on July 8.

Project Leadline resulted in the seizure of over half a million dollars in drugs and cash, which included: two firearms; 5,088 grams of cocaine; 1,132 grams of a suspected cocaine buffing agent; 22 grams of fentanyl; 253 grams of methamphetamine; 500 methamphetamine pills; 1,000 milliliters of GHB; and $91,941 cash.