Surrey Mounties have charged 13 people with dozens of drug and weapons offences in a massive bust nearly two years in the making.
Investigators seized large quantities of drugs including cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, MDMA, oxycodone and fentanyl – a potentially lethal drug that has prompted warnings from various police agencies in Metro Vancouver.
“This fentanyl, which is 289 grams, has the ability to make 289,000 pills,” said Surrey RCMP Insp. Wade Lymburner.
Cash and firearms including fully automatic weapons were also seized, and 13 people now face a total of 66 charges in connection with the bust.
Among those charged is Sophon Sek, who is already facing a trial for manslaughter in connection with the Surrey Six case in which six people, including two innocent bystanders, were murdered in a highrise condo in October 2007.
The charges follow a 21-month-long investigation into trafficking activity in Surrey. Police said the bust will likely impact drug activity in the area, but said there are still other criminal groups they’re hoping to disrupt.
“The stuff that people see on the street, is the people who are out doing the transactions, so that would be kind of the lowest level…akin to your workers bees,” Lymburner said. “But usually behind that, there’s going to be a layer of more sophistication that deals with obtaining the product, packaging, all that stuff.”
Police aren’t saying whether the arrests are connected to a late-night shooting near 88 Avenue and 124 Avenue in Surrey Thursday night.
Two men in the 20s turned up at a hospital with non-life threatening gunshot wounds following a possible shootout between two SUVs.
“The same sections involved in the investigations of the previous shootings recently in Surrey are involved in this specific investigation,” said Surrey RCMP Cpl. Bert Paquet. “That will allow us to establish whether this incident is connected to the recent shootings we have been investigating.”
That shooting is believed to have been targeted, police said.
Mounties have arrested eight people in the bust, while four remain outstanding, including Lester Ray, Yaeil Jang, Sonny Nguyen, Hargoot Garg and Andres Naranjo, who are all charged with varying counts of trafficking.
Police arrested Sek, Mona Khodabandehloo, Glen Hudson, Francis Le, Dylan Herman, Daniel Cluett and two youths who cannot be identified. All face charges relating to trafficking and firearms possession.
Anyone with information is asked to call Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
