COPS MAKE $650,000 DRUG BUST

Suspect Called 'Supplier Of Suppliers' With Vancouver Gang
Connections

Cocaine and paint cans rigged to transport drugs were just part of the
haul in what Victoria police Chief Jamie Graham calls one of the
largest drug seizures in the force's history.

Yesterday, police displayed $650,000 worth of cocaine, heroin,
methamphetamine and ecstasy pills, as well as tools of the drug trade,
seized in a daytime takedown on Feb. 19, which began on a busy street
in the heart of Victoria when police smashed a Nissan Altima's window
to arrest a 36-year-old man.

"He has been known to us for years," said West Shore RCMP Staff Sgt.
Ian Lawson. He participated in the investigation, which culminated in
two months of intensive work involving the RCMP, the Capital Regional
District Regional Crime Unit and Victoria police.

Victoria police Const. Conor King said the man had ties to Vancouver
gangs, describing him as "a supplier of suppliers."

Items seized indicate a sophisticated, gang-style organized drug
operation, Graham said. They include three high-end vehicles -- a
Nissan Altima sedan, an Infiniti FX35 SUV and a Toyota TRD Sport truck
- -- two motorcycles, laptop computers, a multitude of cellphones and
BlackBerry devices, food cans and paint cans with false bottoms
designed to transport drugs, scales, ammunition, cans of bear spray
and jewelry.

Among the jewelry was an item Victoria police spokesman Sgt. Grant
Hamilton knows well: a ring from the Mann Cup -- the Canadian men's
lacrosse championship -- stolen from his brother's home more than two
years ago. It shows, Hamilton said, how drug operations permeate the
city's crime scene.

"Jewelry is used as collateral," Hamilton said. "If a customer doesn't
have cash, the drug dealer will take jewelry instead, and that is why
break-and-enters are so tied to the drug trade."

Drugs seized from the arrested man's vehicles and Colwood home in the
200 block of Milburn Drive, and a downtown Victoria hotel room from
which the drug operation allegedly operated, included 2.2 kilos of
cocaine valued by police at $450,000, half a kilo of heroin with a
street value of $188,000, 300 ecstasy pills valued at $4,500, 45 grams
of crystal methamphetamine valued at $9,000, and $10,000 in cash.

Police withheld the name of the Victoria hotel.

Shortly after arresting West Shore resident Kevin Michael Vezina on
Feb. 19 at Pandora Avenue and Douglas Street, police arrested his
26-year-old girlfriend on Gorge Road. Police have not released the
girlfriend's name, but court records show Vezina's co-accused is
Alicia Kelley Lambert, also known as Alicia Kelley Smyth. She has been
released under strict conditions.

Records show the two accused own the Milburn Drive house that police
searched.

Vezina remains in custody. He is charged with three counts of
possession for the purpose of trafficking and with possession of
cocaine, metamphetamine and heroin. Lambert is charged with three
counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Vezina's next court appearance is March 12.

Police say those who believe their stolen jewelry is among seized
items should contact Victoria police at 250-995-7444.