Forty-three people have been charged in a sprawling year-long police investigation into the street- and mid-level drug trade in the Peace Region, B.C.'s gang task force announced June 24.
The investigation, which began last July, involved five search warrants, multiple traffic stops, nine "roundups" by Fort St. John and Dawson Creek RCMP and the seizure of around 700 pills of fentanyl, the powerful opiate that has been involved in at least eight deadly overdoses in the Peace Region this year.
Officials from the RCMP, B.C.'s Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU) and Public Safety Minister Mike Morris attended a media event in Prince George Friday to announce the seizures.
"These enforcement actions are a blow to the capabilities of certain gang members in B.C.'s North and Peace Regions," Kevin Hackett, Chief Officer of the CFSEU-BC, said in a release. "We have taken guns and drugs off the streets of our communities, and reduced the threat to public safety."
Police are still looking for 14 people charged in the investigation. Twenty-nine were arrested in police "roundups" in Fort St. John and Dawson Creek.
Charges against three people have been approved, allowing police to release their names.
They include 37-year-old Jamie Christopher St. Denis and Christina Marie MacKay, 30, arrested in Dawson Creek on Dec. 5 2015 for allegedly trying to sell $39,000 worth of cocaine.
St. Denis was sentenced to seven and-a-half years in jail after pleading guilty to trafficking cocaine, trafficking a firearm and possession of an illegal firearm. MacKay, who lives in Bay Tree, Alta. is charged with cocaine possession and trafficking and will appear in court in Dawson Creek next month.
Also charged is 36-year-old Ryan Holden of Dawson Creek, who faces multiple weapons charges, including owning body armour without a permit. He is also accused of possession for the purpose of trafficking. He is set to appear in court July 14.
The items seized include:
- An AR-15 semi-automatic rifle
- One .22 calibre rifle
- A loaded 12-gauge shotgun
- 74 ounces of cocaine
- Approximately 700 fentanyl pills and capsules
- 3.5 grams of crystal meth
- 17.4 grams of "an amphetamine"
- Two percocets painkillers
- 1.75 litres of liquid GHB
- Approximately $70,000 in cash
Last year, police linked a number of violent incidents to a "drug war" for control of Northeast B.C.'s drug trade.
