In the midst of secret federal court proceedings and on the eve of a defence application to drop all charges, the Crown terminated the prosecution of five people accused of running a massive, cross-border drug trafficking operation involving Mexican cartels, CBC News has learned.

At the time charges were announced, police said it was believed the $55-million drug bust involving nearly one metric tonne of methamphetamine and six kilograms of cocaine was the largest ever in Alberta.

With three sets of stays issued last week, last April and in 2023, 10 of the 15 people originally charged in the investigation dubbed Project Cobra are no longer before the courts.

Ricco King, 52, 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 importation 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 offences.

Secret federal court proceedings

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, defence lawyers were fighting in federal court for the disclosure of information the attorney general didn’t want handed over due to national security concerns. The disclosure involved investigative techniques used by the RCMP.

That matter was being heard in camera.

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.

No ‘reasonable prospect of conviction’

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,” said Wolch.

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,” said Butt. “But they are necessary in a democratic society … and serve as procedural guardians for our justice system.”

Project Cobra

In September 2022, the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) announced the fruits of Project Cobra in partnership with a number of law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The investigation resulted in 15 people facing 80 charges, including drug trafficking, organized crime, money laundering and firearms offences.

The people charged, including King, were accused of moving drugs produced by Mexican cartels to Alberta.

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

Nineteen firearms, including rifles and submachine guns, were also collected by police.

ALERT said these vehicles were seized in connection with Project Cobra. (ALERT)

In April, the Crown stayed charges against three others: Jesse Marshall, 54, Daniel Menzul, 34, and Sean Nesbitt, 46. And last year, Lina El-Chammoury, 52, and Belal Fouani, 46, saw their charges dropped.

Months before the stays were issued, three others charged in the Project Cobra investigation pleaded guilty.

Murder connection

Among those arrested was Talal Fouani. Just weeks after he was charged with organized crime offences, 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.

Last year, Fouani pleaded guilty to money laundering but has yet to be sentenced and is awaiting a decision on whether his charge will be stayed due to what his lawyer argued is unreasonable delay in the case.

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

A man has been charged with Baron’s murder but police and prosecutors have not publicly connected him to the organized crime case.