MOUNTIES STRIKE BLOW IN 'MIDDLE' OF DRUG TRADE

ONE STILL AT LARGE: Police say they have 'disrupted' Lower Mainland drug flow

Police have arrested three men, confiscated cars and $100,000 in cash, and
seized a vast quantity of drugs in an effort to disrupt the Lower Mainland
drug trade.

Cpl. Pat Murphy, head of Burnaby's RCMP drug section, described the results
of Project E-Peat as a "stiff blow" to alleged influential mid-level drug
traffickers.

"We're hoping for maximum disruption," Murphy said. "This [police
operation] does have significant impact at the user-end level. More
importantly, it deals a blow to this organization."

Investigators with the Burnaby drug team, along with their counterparts in
the Vancouver police and North Vancouver RCMP, executed warrants in
Burnaby, Vancouver and West Vancouver.

Seized items include: 4.5 kilograms of cocaine, 1,676 ecstasy pills, close
to 700 methqualome pills, 575 grams of ecstasy powder, 112 grams of
methamphetamine, 39.5 grams of heroin and about 95 grams of marijuana.

Police also recovered a Glock .40-calibre handgun, $100,250 in cash, a 2001
Audi, 2001 Porsche and 2003 Jeep.

Andrew David Jeves, 31, of Burnaby, 28-year-old Vancouver resident
Francisco Jose Fernandez Maiza and 37-year-old Emmanuel Winston Lomeda of
West Vancouver face a slew of trafficking and possession charges. All three
have been released from custody pending their court dates.

A B.C.-wide warrant has been issued for the arrest of Ian Edgar Small, the
alleged fourth member of the group. He faces six counts of cocaine trafficking.

Lomeda is also charged with possessing money obtained by a criminal
offence. Murphy said police located "most" of the cash in Lomeda's
possession, as well as the Porsche and the Glock.

"He [Lomeda] was the alleged highest-placed person," Murphy said. "But
certainly he has a master he has to bow to."

Public records indicate Lomeda, who also goes by the name Winston Lomeda
and alternately lists his profession as promoter and manager, owns a 2001
BMW X5, a 2004 Acura RSX and a 2001 Porsche Carrera 4. He is also co-owner
of a home on Inglewood Avenue in West Vancouver assessed at $635,000 and a
co-owner of a $660,000 property on Stephens Street in Vancouver.

Lomeda is also listed as the director of a company called Soundscape
Productions Incorporated. Lomeda lists the company's address in the
3400-block of McIntyre Drive as his own in property records.

Murphy said the drugs police seized were most likely bound for street-level
dealers across the Lower Mainland.

While Burnaby RCMP routinely arrest street dealers, investigations like
E-Peat that target groups allegedly supplying those low-level venders can
be more effective at stemming the drug flow, he said.

"Our philosophy is to try and hit them in the middle," Murphy said.

But the greater the impact of the investigation, the more difficult it
becomes, Murphy said. While he declined to go into specifics, Murphy said
E-Peat involved as many as 20 officers and was a lengthy process.