B.C. man charged after drugs, 3D-printed guns seized on Vancouver Island

Police seized several kilograms of drugs along with $240,000 in cash, 400 cartons of contraband cigarettes, body armour, a Taser, a 3D printer, one rifle and six handguns, including a pair of 3D-printed pistols. (RCMP)

A Victoria-area man is facing more than a dozen drug and weapons charges after a series of co-ordinated police raids on Vancouver Island turned up 3D-printed handguns and several kilograms of drugs.

James Mathew Lamont, born in 1991, was one of seven suspects arrested when police searched four residential properties in the Cowichan Valley and Sooke earlier this year.

He was charged in Port Alberni provincial court Monday with 20 offences, including 11 counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking, and multiple firearm offences.

He was held in custody pending his next court appearance scheduled for Friday.

Authorities say the investigation began last November and targeted mid-level drug trafficking in the Cowichan Valley area.

The probe eventually led to the searches of three residences in the Duncan area and one home in Sooke on March 12 and March 19.

During the searches, police seized an estimated three kilograms of suspected fentanyl, two kilograms of suspected methamphetamine and one and a half kilograms of suspected cocaine, the RCMP said in a news release in April.

Forty litres of the drug gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB) were also found, along with $240,000 in cash, 400 cartons of contraband cigarettes, body armour, a Taser, a 3D printer, one rifle and six handguns, including a pair of 3D-printed pistols, according to police.

Authorities have only identified one other suspect arrested in the raids. Grant Giles, 38, from the Fraser Valley, has been charged with four counts of drug trafficking and one count of failing to comply with a court order.

Court records show Giles has a lengthy criminal history, including previous charges of assault, drug trafficking and flight from police.

Investigators said in April that drug and weapons charges were still pending against a 38-year-old woman from the Cowichan Valley.

"This series of arrests and search warrant executions will have a significant impact on the drug supply for Cowichan and the South Island and make our communities safer," Staff Sgt. Deborah Kelly, commander of the North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP's plainclothes unit, said in the April release.

"From the fentanyl seizure alone, approximately 25,000 street-level doses were seized," Kelly added.