Nearly two months after B.C. announced a $23 million funding boost to combat gang violence in crime-stricken communities, Mounties boast considerable progress has been made in Surrey.
On Monday, the RCMP announced eight people believed to be associated with a rash of shootings in the city this year have been arrested over the last week.
That’s on top of another 10 arrested since mid-May, Assistant Commissioner Bill Fordy said.
“In the last three weeks we have arrested 18 people for drug trafficking offences and related matters, like extortion, dangerous driving, failure to stop for police, and possession of a loaded firearm,” Fordy said.
None of the suspects’ names can be released at this time, according to the RCMP.
Mounties credited “extensive, intelligence-led” investigations for the arrests, the most recent of which involve dial-a-dope drug lines that cross over multiple jurisdictions, including Surrey, Vancouver, Burnaby, Coquitlam and North Vancouver.
On top of the arrests, search warrants resulted in the seizure of illicit drugs and guns, though the RCMP has not revealed in what quantities.
The Surrey detachment said it expects to make more arrests in connection with the ongoing investigations.
Beyond the recent funding boost from the province, the City of Surrey has announced it’s in the process of purchasing 75 cameras to monitor street-level violence, to be installed within the next six months.
