Surrey RCMP are crediting cooperation between police agencies across Metro Vancouver, including Coquitlam, for a drug bust that took more than 34,000 doses of hard drugs off the street.
The six month investigation concluded with a press conference Tuesday, in which 48 drug-related charges were announced against five people, with one man still at large.
Approximately 30,000 doses of cocaine and almost 4,800 doses of heroin and fentanyl were seized, police say, as well as six weapons, including two loaded handguns, body armour, a stolen vehicle, stolen identity cards, cash and materials used with drug processing.
Police say the seizures will have a “significant impact on this criminal network’s ability to distribute illicit drugs.”
The investigation involved four search warrants being executed – two on Aug. 16 and two on Aug. 17 – in South Surrey, Guildford, Langley and Delta and required extensive intelligence and teamwork from Delta Police, Coquitlam RCMP, and integrated units including the Lower Mainland Emergency Response Team (ERT) and Police Dog Services (PDS), according to a spokesperson.
‘Thanks to cooperation and intelligence sharing between all police forces in the lower mainland — it really helps us forward investigations in many different ways,” media relations officer Cpl. Scotty Schumann told the Tri-City News.
Although Coquitlam RCMP couldn’t specify details about the investigation, Cpl. Michael McLaughlin was able to confirm that the Coquitlam RCMP’s Drugs and Organized Crime Section assisted with the file.
Taking such a high quantity of drugs off the street will curtail the drug trade for a short time, agreed Surrey RCMP’s Schumann.
“The immediate impact will be all of a sudden their suppliers don’t have any drugs and they’re in jail. We all know that somebody else will step in and fill the demand in short order. Certainly we’re not going to discontinue our enforcement,” Schumann said, adding, “These drug dealers were running drug lines throughout the lower mainland not just Surrey. It will have an impact across the lower mainland similar to the large bust in Vancouver last week."
In the Vancouver bust, four Vancouver men were charged as a result of an operation called “Project Tariff” that began in early March after shots were fired at police in a standoff in southeast Vancouver.
As well, eight guns and more than two kilograms of illegal opioids were seized.
Meanwhile, in the Surrey case, five people are facing a total of 48 charges in connection to the busts, all of whom were previously known to police for drug trafficking: 34-year-old Bradley Thomas Antrobus of Surrey faces two charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking and six firearms related offences; 28-year-old Wyatt Kyle Costain of Surrey is charged with six counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking; 35-year-old Trevor Desjarlais of Surrey faces 11 counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking and seven firearms related offences; and 22-year-old Reanna Grace Kolakovic of Surrey is charged with five counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking.
Costain is a Provincial Tactical Enforcement Priority (PTEP) target, which is the multi-agency law enforcement information-sharing strategy that co-ordinates intelligence related to gang and organized crime targets.
Schumann said Costain was located thanks to the help from PEI RCMP.
“He was in PEI and because of the officers’ diligence in the PEI RCMP, they spent a lot of time tracking him down and helping us arrest him,” he added.
One suspect has not yet been located by police: Dominic Graham Robert Lastoria, a 28-year-old man of no fixed address, who has been charged with 11 counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking.
Lastoria is described as a white man, five feet five inches tall, 130 pounds with blond hair, blue eyes and a slender build.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
— with files from Diane Strandberg
