Police in Quesnel believe they have busted one of northern B.C.'s drug trading headquarters.
The takedown revealed two kilograms in cocaine, a cache of guns -- including "a sniper rifle and high-powered scope" -- body armor and Tasers, large amounts of cash and several items of industrial equipment believed to be stolen.
Const. Michael McLaughlin, Federal Media Relations Officer for the RCMP said the quantities of drugs, cash and other elements of the investigation indicate this was not a boutique trafficking operation but a regional distribution centre.
"We feel we have struck a significant blow, a tremendous blow to the cocaine trade in the area," said McLaughlin. "Our information is this is the major cocaine supplier to Quesnel and other regions up north and that evidence will now be presented in court."
David George Massey, 43, of Quesnel, James Darren Peacock, 36, of Chilliwack, Kelly Edward Champagne, 34, of Abbotsford were arrested on April 12 at a Quesnel strip mall. Massey's common-law wife Tanya Lynn Shepherd, 42, of Quesnel, was arrested the next day at a different location.
"The incident in general speaks to how you have to make healthy choices in your life, no matter what stage of life you're in, or it all could crashing down on you," said McLaughlin.
"When you look at that money, it looks glamourous, but think of the pain involved and misery involved in obtaining that money, and the misery that will follow it into the next set of hands in the criminal world."
Search warrants were executed on one home, four businesses and various vehicles. The cocaine and cash were found in vehicles.
"The investigators have been working 16, 18 hour days, and we are talking 30 to 40 investigators at times," said McLaughlin.
McLaughlin said there was a lot of supportive information from the general public that led them to these people and places of interest.
"People have suspected this for some time, but we have to operate on proof," he said. "Now that we have a file containing what we feel is solid and large-scale evidence, we have really experienced a wave of gratification from the public, people stopping us on the street and telling us how happy they are that we did this."
Police in Quesnel are now in the process of determining the theft victims who once owned the heavy equipment, plus tracing the weapons to theft victims if any of the guns prove to be stolen.
REGIONAL WITHDRAWALS - THE IMPACT
McLaughlin said the cut off of supply is a good time for criminals to get back on the straight and narrow.
"The supplies will be affected at the street level. People in the street trade will already be jockeying for position. There is no doubt there will be a vacuum now," he said.
"Now is a golden opportunity for others in that trade to consider getting out of that business, making the right choice, the safe choice for themselves and their communities."
Insp. Ray Fast, B.C. North District Operations Officer based in Prince George said the bust in Quesnel was part of a wider net being cast by police and was not an isolated repository of drugs, cash, weapons and stolen property.
Fast said the fact there are suspects in this case from more than one B.C. community, plus weapons and other major items found there from elsewhere, is a sign that the drug trade in the region is an organic industry. There is an inter-community relationship between drug trafficking, violence and major theft.
"At the higher levels of organized crime there is more sophistication from the criminals, and the investigations to obtain proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt are complex and resource-intensive," he said.
