$279,000 BUST FOCUSED ON TOP-LEVEL DEALER

Victoria police seized $279,000 worth of drugs in their sweep last
week, bringing the value of narcotics picked up across the region in
the last 90 days to more than $1 million.

"You might ask if we've made a dent or stemmed the flow of drugs in
our community: Darn right we have," Victoria police Chief Jamie Graham
said during a press conference yesterday.

More than 100 police officers from across the region, including two
emergency response teams, raided six homes simultaneously in Victoria,
Esquimalt and the West Shore at 5:30 a.m. May 14.

Officers obtained special warrants to break down the doors of the
homes in the bust, part of a two-month investigation.

The operation focused on a top-level drug dealer in the area who was
getting drugs from gang members on the Lower Mainland. Officers
tracked lower-level dealers he was distributing narcotics to as they
made their sales to street-level addicts.

"During this investigation, we clearly saw the movement of drugs from
the mainland to the mid-level dealer to the street dealer and to those
persons facilitating sales to the street-level users around Street
Link and the 900-block of Pandora," Graham said.

At Victoria police headquarters, two tables were filled with zip-lock
bags of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and ecstasy, along with a crossbow,
sword and ammunition, scales, money counters and the household tools
used to cook up and package the drugs for sale on the street.

Drugs seized included two kilos of cocaine, which police estimated had
a street-level value of $200,000, 32 grams of heroin, with a value of
$6,400, 125 ecstasy pills with a value of $1,025, 615 grams of crystal
meth, valued at $61,000, and 1,100 grams of marijuana valued at
$10,900. Police also seized more than $26,000 in cash.

Victoria police drug expert Const. Connor King explained that cocaine
on the street is sold for a lot more than it's worth in its pure form,
because dealers dilute it with a "cutting agent" such as talcum power
or baking soda.

Graham estimated the drugs seized translate into 1,800 fewer drug
deals.

Eight men, ranging in age from 21 to 37, were arrested. The men, all
area residents known to police, are facing multiple charges related to
drug possession and drug trafficking.

Although the dealers are known to possess weapons, the search did not
turn up any handguns. King said while none of those arrested are known
gang members, they were "intermingling" with gangs on the Mainland.

The men have been released on conditions and will make their first
court appearance June 25.

In February, Victoria police seized $650,000 worth of cocaine, heroin,
methamphetamine and ecstasy pills, as well as tools of the drug trade,
in what they described as one of the largest drug seizures in the
force's history.