EIGHT ARRESTED IN DRUG RAIDS

A sprawling team of police officers arrested eight people in
early-morning raids across the region this morning, the product of a
three-month undercover drug investigation.

Led by the Victoria police street crime unit, nearly 100 officers
including two emergency response teams raided five locations in
Saanich and the West Shore, seizing a large volume of drugs -- mostly
cocaine -- firearms and cash, and arresting four men and four women,
said Victoria police spokesman Sgt. Grant Hamilton.

Starting at 5 a.m., officers raided two properties in Colwood -- a
home in the 3600-block of Roberlack Road and a business in the Colwood
Corners complex -- one home in Langford in the 2600-block of Rainville
Road and two homes in Saanich -- in the 100-block of Regina and the
300-block of Burnside Road West.

Hamilton said the eight were involved in a large drug-trafficking
operation, feeding cocaine into downtown Victoria and other parts of
the region.

"It doesn't matter where [the criminals] live, the drugs are
trafficked downtown, they are sold downtown, they are used downtown."

He said police will catalogue the evidence and release more
information tomorrow.

The eight people are in custody but they have yet to be charged,
Hamilton said, adding they are all known to police.

The drug operation is not tied to a specific organized gang, he
said.

Searches are continuing, Hamilton said, and more illegal or stolen
property could be seized.

Officers from the strike force unit, the regional crime unit, the
RCMP's combined special forces enforcement unit, Saanich police and
West Shore RCMP assisted in the takedown, which Hamilton said could be
one of the largest in the region.

Victoria police also brought in a tactical team to help with a raid on
a home in the 3100-block of Quadra Street Saturday, which wrapped up a
separate month-long drug investigation.

Officers seized 600 grams of dried marijuana, harvested from a grow-op
in the home and with a street-level value of $5,000. They also seized
six rifles, two crossbows, arrows, knives and ammunition.

The 34-year-old man arrested has a firearms licence for some of the
guns but not others, Hamilton said.

The man is also registered as having two shotguns that are unaccounted
for, which Hamilton said is concerning.

The man, and a 31-year-old woman who was also arrested, were released
on a promise to appear in court Nov. 6.