MEN CHARGED IN DRUG RING TIED TO LANGLEY COMPANY

Image Logistics Ltd. Trucking Firm Founded By Two Accused Drug
Smugglers

A Langley trucking company is linked to two men facing charges in the
U.S. as part of an international drug trafficking ring allegedly run
by the Hells Angels, The Vancouver Sun has learned.

Image Logistics Ltd. was founded in 2002 by Robert J. Shannon, Richard
Jansen and Jansen's old high school buddy Jody York, according to
corporate documents obtained by The Sun.

York's million-dollar Langley house was the target of a drive-by
shooting in October that came just two weeks before his associate Joe
Krantz was gunned down at his Abbotsford extreme fighting club.

Krantz, a member of the Independent Soldiers' gang, was facing charges
with York that were laid in Kelowna earlier this year for allegedly
"causing a disturbance."

Both Shannon and Jansen are going to trial in Seattle in February,
charged with conspiracy to traffic drugs and money laundering related
to a marijuana and cocaine smuggling ring alleged to have moved $19
million US worth of illicit product.

Another trucking company headed by Jansen -- Scorpion Transport -- was
named in the U.S. court papers, while Image Logistics was not.

But some of the large shipments of pot are alleged to have been
trucked across the B.C.-Washington border by Shannon's group when both
he and Jansen were listed as vice-president and treasurer,
respectively, of Image Logistics.

When the trio started Image Logistics, Jody York already had a
criminal record and Shannon, who police say is an associate of three
B.C. Hells Angels chapters, was facing drug and firearms charges.

Neither the provincial government nor any other regulatory body does
criminal record checks of those starting trucking companies, or
applying for mandatory safety certificates from the Transportation
Ministry, The Sun has learned.

"I don't think we have any responsibility for that," the ministry's
Jeff Knight said Friday.

He said the ministry issues "National Safety Code Certificates" to
truckers. According to the certificate criteria, someone can be denied
for a poor driving history or a "motor vehicle-related Criminal Code
conviction in the past 36 months."

Shannon was found guilty on the gun count on Sept. 19, 2003, just
months after Image Logistics filed its first annual report. He got a
one-year conditional sentence and a 10-year prohibition on firearm
ownership.

York also had a criminal record before becoming president of Image
Logistics.

In fact, his run-ins with the law date back to when he was 19,
according to provincial court records. He was convicted of assault,
then theft over $5,000, followed by another assault conviction and one
for driving while prohibited.

York is to go to trial in Kelowna next February on his latest charge,
though the count against his slain co-accused, Krantz, was stayed Oct.
31.

The Sun was unable to contact York about his link to the two men
charged in the U.S. The telephone line for Image Logistics has now
been cut off. The company e-mail addresses bounced back and a trip to
the business on Telegraph Trail Sunday showed the Image Logistics
signs removed, even though the company's website remains active.

In fact, e-mail addresses for both Shannon and Jansen are still posted
online beside York's.

When Shannon and Jansen were charged in the U.S. last June, the RCMP
said there was a parallel probe in Canada.

"We're continuing to investigate people tied to that group," RCMP
Insp. Gary Shinkaruk said at the time.

Shinkaruk also said Shannon was associated with full-patch members of
the Hells Angels in Vancouver, Haney and Mission.

Ten days ago, three of Shannon's and Jansen's co-accused pleaded
guilty to the U.S. charges and face mandatory sentences of at least 10
years.

Abbotsford's Devron Quast, 38, and Philip Stone, 45, were managers at
the Quast family Hyundai dealership while living their covert life as
international drug smugglers. John Fairweather, 52, also admitted his
role in the plot after being arrested at their Bellingham storage facility.

Detailed court documents paint a damning picture of the alleged
conspiracy -- surreptitiously recorded conversations and telephone
calls, coded BlackBerry messages and police seizures of 7,000 pounds
of B.C. Bud, 1,700 pounds of cocaine and about $3.5 million US in cash.

Drugs were hidden inside hollowed-out logs on trucks, within the false
walls of cargo containers and vehicles, within loads of commercial
lumber, inside large PVC pipes and in the interior of a propane
tanker. Some of the illicit loads were carried across the border by
foot soldiers.

Shannon and Quast crossed the border together last June to meet their
contact at a Ferndale, Wash. burger joint. The man was really an
undercover agent taping the meeting to alert the Americans to "a hot
load" arriving that day on Jansen's truck.

Quast, who now admits his role in the ring, and Shannon, who has
pleaded not guilty, worked closely "to facilitate the distribution of
controlled substances on behalf of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club
and others," the indictment says.

"From Canada, [Shannon] was the principal overseer of the North
America narcotics transportation group for the organization."

At meetings with the undercover cop, Shannon and Quast "discussed
their ongoing criminal enterprise and pledged to work with the
undercover agent toward greater cooperation in smuggling thousands of
pounds of B.C. Bud into the United States," the indictment says.

Corporate records also show that in February 2006, York filed
documents with the B.C. Finance Ministry saying Shannon and Jansen
ceased to be directors of the company on Dec. 31, 2005.

But personal property records show that a current loan registered for
one of Jansen's tractor-trailers still lists both Image Logistics and
Scorpion as debtors.