Two B.C. residents will appear in court this month after facing charges related to a 2016 seizure of 40,000 fentanyl pills and 132 kilograms of cocaine.
Andrew Lam, who also goes by Yan Chau, has been charged with one count of conspiring to import a controlled substance. The 48-year-old Richmond resident is also facing charges of conspiring to possess and unlawfully possessing a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking.
Forty-three-year-old Vancouver resident Gertrude Cheong, who also goes by Sok Wai, is facing one count of conspiring to possess a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking.
Lam and Cheong, who were both known to local police, were taken into custody after the RCMP was alerted to a shipment bound for Vancouver in February 2016. Three roller suitcases were discovered inside of a refrigerated container arriving from Brazil. While in transit at the Port of Los Angeles, U.S. Customs and Border Protection found 110 packages containing more than 130 kilograms of cocaine, prompting Lam and Cheong’s arrest after the drugs were intercepted by RCMP.
Police then obtained a search warrant for a Richmond apartment where 40,000 fentanyl pills and a one-kilogram brick of methamphetamine were also seized.
“This seizure is significant in that we feel that we’ve certainly had an impact on transnational drug trafficking,” RCMP Staff Sgt. Annie Linteau told CTV News. “We all know the opioid crisis here in British Columbia has been at the forefront of the news for quite a number of months and we all know that everybody has been impacted by this.
“We’re certainly confident that these drugs being off the street have for sure had an impact on saving lives.”
Lam and Cheong have been released on bail and will appear in court on Oct. 31 in Richmond.
