Police raided an Abbotsford drug distribution house was raided Wednesday night, resulting in the first arrest of a United Nations gang associate in the area since leader Clay Roueche was jailed earlier this month.
Officers from the Abbotsford Police Drug Enforcement Unit, the Patrol Division and the Emergency Response Team entered an apartment in the 2300-block of Westerly Street at around 6:45 p.m.
Inside, they found 3.5 lbs. of marijuana, 12 rocks of crack cocaine and a bag of psilocybin, a powdered form of hallucinogenic mushrooms.
Officers also seized $3,000 cash and two weapons: a curved "tiger claw" blade and a set of brass knuckles.
A 19-year-old man was arrested, and faces three charges of drug possession for the purposes of trafficking and two charges of possessing prohibited weapons.
He was taken into custody peacefully, said Const. Ian MacDonald.
"There was no incident," MacDonald said. "I would say when you see 14 or 15 officers show up, there are few other options."
On Dec. 16, a U.S. court sentenced Roueche to 30 years in prison for his role in a cross-border drug smuggling ring.
However, MacDonald said gang members in Abbotsford have shown little signs of discouragement since.
"For the people that are entrenched in these gangs, we fully expect that the majority will continue their behaviour."
But with Wednesday's arrest, MacDonald said the Abbotsford Police Department had achieved an early start to its new year's resolution.
"Our goal in the new year, and I think it's a realistic goal, is that we can make our city a really lousy place for these gang leaders or drug dealers to be."
"We're looking for record numbers of arrests in 2010."
