Surrey Mounties say a 14-month investigation by the drug unit has reaped one of the largest drug seizures in the detachment's history.
The investigation started in June 2023 targeting a group alleged to be trafficking in guns and "high-potency" drugs in the Lower Mainland.
The Surrey RCMP Drug Unit, during seven searches in North Surrey, Vancouver, New Westminster, Richmond and Coquitlam, seized large quantities of cocaine, MDMA, methamphetamine, fentanyl, prescription and counterfeit prescription pills, guns, cash and vehicles, some of which were displayed at a presser in Newton on Wednesday (Nov. 20).
Three Surrey residents between the ages of 24 and 47 were arrested.
Cpl. Sarbjit Sangha said a report is "underway" to the Public Prosecution Services of Canada recommended charges against the three. Two Richmond residents and a New Westminster resident are also facing charges.
The haul includes 36.4 kilograms of fentanyl, $119,000 in Canadian cash, 23 kilograms of MDMA, 20.4 kilograms of cocaine, 23 kilograms of methamphetamine, 1,300 pills including counterfeit oxycodone, benzodiazepines, hydromorphone, amphetamine, methylphenidate, 600 prescription pills (T3) and non-prescription counterfeit oxycodone as well as 16 kilograms of benzodiazepine, 8.7 kilograms of xylazine “tranq," a kilogram of caffeine, a kilogram of phenacetin, six prohibited firearms (two ghost guns, four firearms smuggled in from the USA), ammunition, magazines, body armour, a 2024 Acura MDX, a 2023 Jeep Grand Cherokee and a 2020 Kia Forte.
Assistant Commissioner Brian Edwards, officer in charge of the Surrey RCMP, said "the totality of drugs seized in this investigation was significant and will disrupt the drug trade in Surrey.
"I am extremely proud of our officers’ dedication to duty and passion to investigate the high-level drug traffickers who are harming our community," he added.
Edwards also extended "sincere gratitude" to New Westminster Police, the Lower Mainland Integrated Emergency Response Team, the Vancouver Police Department Emergency Response Team, the Richmond RCMP, the Lower Mainland Integrated Forensic Identification Section, the Digital Forensic Technical Support team, and the Coquitlam RCMP "for their operational support in this investigation."
Edwards made an impassioned plea to the community, noting that while there is much focus on treatment and enforcement, "We also need to look at the demand for drugs in our community and lessening that. We also need to talk about prevention, preventing out children, our families, our brothers and sisters from going down the road of using these drugs. We need to focus on prevention, not just on treatment so that we can reduce the demand and what inevitably follows with this."
Getting children involved in sports and other wholesome activities "is just good parenting," he noted.
Staff Sgt. Glenn Leeson, of the Surrey RCMP Drug Unit, said this "long, at times arduous" investigation began at the street level and moved up the supply chain to wholesalers and distributors. The seized drugs on display at the presser, he said, represent "a staggering amount of, well, death and destruction but the profits are astronomical."
"At the street level what you see here is millions and millions of dollars. For reference, the fentanyl alone at street level, 36 kilos, you're probably at $7 million worth," Leeson said. "The big money is where they break it down."
"When I say there's at a minimum 360,000 doses that's on the low side," he said. "You could maybe go 10 times that."
It's the latest in a series of huge drug scores by the RCMP.
Earlier this month two Surrey residents and a Mexican national were arrested during an investigation into what the RCMP described as a "transnational organized crime group" linked to a Mexican drug cartel which resulted in the seizure of 23 guns, thousands of rounds of ammo and multiple kilos of drugs from a "heavily fortified" house in Fleetwood.
Last month, police revealed they'd dismantled a "super lab" in Falkland and seized firearms in Surrey related to an investigation the federal RCMP said was linked to international organized crime.
Leeson said police haven't found any "linkages" between those two investigations and this latest bust. He said this one has to be at "in the top three" of drug busts in Surrey. "As far as I can recall, and like I say I've got close to 20 years, this is probably the biggest that this municipal drug unit that I can recall has produced."
