Five well-known B.C. gangsters linked to the Red Scorpion and UN gangs have been charged with drug trafficking after a major undercover investigation.

Red Scorpion Jarrod Wayne Bacon and his associate Arnold Wayne Scott, along with alleged UN gang members Douglas Edward Vanalstine, Nicholas Christian Wester and Daryl Robert Johnson were all arrested Thursday.

Police say the men, members of rival gangs Red Scorpions and the UN gang, are responsible for a large portion of the gang violence seen in Metro Vancouver in recent years, and drug trafficking.

In Pictures: Sweeping gang arrests

Bacon and Scott are accused of conspiracy to traffic a controlled substance. Scott is the father of Jarrod Bacon's girlfriend. The other three are charged with conspiracy to traffic and possession.

Vanalstine is said to be the current leader of the UN gang.

Massive investigation

The arrests come as part of Project E-Printle, a sweeping investigation launched in February by the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit. The operation specifically targets the alleged drug trafficking of both the Bacon brothers and UN gang, said CFSEU Supt. Doug Kiloh.

"During the course of our investigation both groups engaged in conspiracy to import over 100,000 kilograms of cocaine from Mexico directly to Canada," he said.

Bacon, Scott, Wester and Johnson made their first appearance in a high security courtroom in Vancouver Supreme Court Friday morning. Vanalstine appeared via video link from Kelowna.

All will be held in custody until their next court appearances Dec. 2 and 3. It is expected Valanstine will be brought to the Lower Mainland for his next appearance.

"Most violent"

Kiloh said the CFSEU started focusing its attention on the UN gang and the Bacon brothers in September 2007 because the unit felt they were the most violent factions in the province.

In May 2008, UN leader Clay Rouche was arrested by U.S. customs agents during a stopover in Texas on his way back from Mexico. CFSEU investigators said they had evidence that tied Rouche to involvement in international drug trafficking, illegal firearms, and conspiracy to commit murder.

Law enforcement agencies seized a "significant amount of drugs money and firearms" from Rouche, Kiloh said.

That same year eight members of the UN gang were arrested for conspiracy to commit murder. Among them was Barzan Tilli-Cholli, who stepped up as the de-facto leader of the UN gang after Rouche's incarceration.

All eight, plus Rouche, remain in custody.

More charges?

There is potential for more arrests against members of the UN and Red Scorpion gangs, the CFSEU said.

Supt. Dan Malo describes the two gangs as "very fluid."

He estimates the UN gang has over 100 members and associates but the number of Red Scorpion members is decreasing because of police activity in the last year.

"There is currently conflict within the gangs themselves to try and assume further territory in the region," Malo said.

He says recruitment in both gangs is aggressive, with each taking measures to acquire new tattooed gang members on a daily or weekly basis. Sometimes these young gang members are mentally or physically abused.

"They are lured to a lifestyle that truly doesn't exist," Malo said.

Malo said recent arrests of top gang members should send a strong message to young people who may be tempted into joining a gang.

"You'll either get shot, you'll get killed you'll make no money or you'll go to jail."

Underestimated

One of the areas in B.C. most affected by gang activity in the Fraser Valley, southeast of Vancouver, where the UN gang was founded in the mid-1990's.

The scale of the gang grew fast and furious, Deputy Chief Rick Lucy said.

"Looking at it now the situation was clearly underestimated," he told reporters Friday.

"The progress of where it went to and the violence that followed no one could have saw that. But we must learn from that."

The Abbotsford Police have launched a school program aimed at detracting high school kids from becoming gang members.