FIREPOWER TAKEN OFF THE STREETS

Two Abbotsford men - including one accused of arson in connection with
the Esposito fires - are among 10 people facing criminal charges after
police broke up an alleged gun trafficking ring that sold handguns,
rifles and machine guns to drug dealers across the country.

The ring was discovered as police investigated the fires that
destroyed two of Paul Esposito's businesses and damaged his liquor
store. Abbotsford Police Const. Casey Vinet said there is no
connection between the fires and the gun ring, aside from one person
charged in both cases.

At a press conference yesterday, police announced that Abbotsford's
Steven Ryan Porsch, 20, is charged with nine counts of trafficking in
firearms and one count of conspiracy. Matthew Gordon Campbell, a
23-year-old resident of Abbotsford, is charged with one count of
firearms trafficking and one count of conspiracy.

The other eight alleged conspirators are from Hope, Langley, Surrey,
Coquitlam and North Vancouver.

Porsch is already charged with arson and counselling to commit arson
in connection to the three fires at Esposito's businesses and three at
a Homeview Street four-plex.

He is also charged with three weapons offences related to his Feb. 10,
2006 arrest for the arsons, and faces extortion charges related to a
case in Chilliwack in November 2005. Both of those cases return to
Abbotsford provincial court on July 11.

On July 19, Porsch is set to have a preliminary hearing with James
Potgieter and James Bacon in relation to an April 1, 2005 break-in at
a Mt. Lehman Road home.

Their charges allege they confined a man and robbed him of plants and
ballasts.

Porsch also faces drug and weapons charges.

A fourth person, Tamara Dafoe, is also charged in connection with the
April 2005 incident.

Campbell, meanwhile, had a charge of forcible entry dismissed in
Abbotsford provincial court on Friday.

He also awaits a preliminary hearing next year on charges of
intimidating a man into assisting with the illicit sale of drugs, as
well as extortion, drug trafficking, and uttering threats.

According to an information to obtain (ITO) a search warrant in that
case, police link Matt Campbell and others to the Bacon group, which
has associations to the UN gang.

Yesterday, police said they discovered the alleged trafficking ring as
they were probing the fires that targeted Abbotsford businessman Paul
Esposito in December 2004 and January 2005.

Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit Insp. Andy Richards said
that, last summer, officers were investigating an individual who was
central to the arson investigation and discovered evidence of guns.

Following the seizure of a "couple" of Sten guns, project "E-Portal"
began.

One of those seizures occurred on Aug. 5, 2005 on Winfield Drive.
Charged with drug offences are Raylene Burton, Godwin Cheng Antonio
Gueoergiev and another member of the Bacon family - Jonathan. Bacon
and Burton also face weapons offences.

According to an ITO into the Winfield Drive case, Campbell was spotted
with John Bacon several days before their arrests, and police suggest
their interaction was consistent with a drug transaction.

The guns used in the alleged trafficking ring, said police in a press
release, were meant for the sole purpose of supporting crime groups in
their continuing violent activity within our communities.

"This initiative has disrupted a large organized network of firearm
trafficking," police said.

Police said they were selling military surplus 1970s-era Sten MKII and
Bren machine guns that had been rendered inoperative, taken apart and
sold to a scrap metal dealer by the Canadian military.

Instead of melting down the metal gun parts, they were reassembled and
restored by a gunsmith, police said.

The department of defence has since changed the way it disposes of
obsolete weapons, police said.

More than 100 weapons sold by the ring were put on display for
reporters and photographers Friday morning at the Delta headquarters
of the CFSEU, the special task force assigned to fight organized and
serious crime in BC.

Beside the restored Bren and Sten guns, there were other models such
as a fully automatic MAC-10 and a Colt AR15 assault rifle that were
not Canadian military surplus and are believed to have been smuggled
into the country from the U.S.

There were also dozens of handguns including a .40-calibre Smith and
Wesson, .45-calibre Colt and several semiautomatic handguns with silencers.

Police seized the weapons during a series of raids between July of
last year and May of this year at locations in Abbotsford, Langley,
Coquitlam, North Vancouver, Delta and Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Approximately a third of those guns were located in
Abbotsford.

"We're definitely glad to get these (guns) off the streets," said
Abbotsford Police Const. Casey Vinet.

Deputy Police Chief Rick Lucy called the extent of the gun trafficking
"shocking."

A substantial amount of drugs was also seized by police.

Porsch has not yet appeared in court on the firearms trafficking
charges. He did appear by video in Abbotsford court on Tuesday, when
preliminary hearing dates were set for the arson case.

Campbell was arrested in Clearbrook on Wednesday afternoon and
released on an undertaking to appear in Surrey court on July 19.