A B.C. man has been arrested and charged after police thwarted a cross-border smuggling operation involving more than 100 kilograms of cocaine, crystal meth and heroin.
Saanich resident William Milton Barnes was nabbed following a six-month investigation by law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and Canada that also netted 15 guns, $150,000 cash and two high-speed boats.
Chief Supt. Keith Finn said the scheme was to transfer the drugs from one boat to another somewhere in the ocean between Washington state and B.C., then deliver them to Vancouver Island.
"We observed a vessel from Canada meeting in open water with a vessel from the United States," Finn told reporters Wednesday. "Large bags were transferred from one boat to another. When the boat returned to Victoria, RCMP officers detained Mr. Barnes under the Customs Act."
Officers seized 55 kilograms of cocaine alone from the boat, along with 47 kilograms of crystal meth and more than a kilogram of heroin.
Barnes has since been charged with 11 counts mostly related to drugs and firearms, including possession for the purpose of trafficking cocaine and possession of a banned high-capacity magazine.
A Washington State man who was also identified in the smuggling investigation, Gary Horton, has already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to export narcotics. He's scheduled to be sentenced in September.
With files from CTV Vancouver’s Nafeesa Karim
