NEW SIBLING TRIO RUNNING DRUG TRADE IN FRASER VALLEY, POLICE CHIEF SAYS

ABBOTSFORD - Abbotsford's notorious Bacon brothers have been replaced
in the Fraser Valley by a new trio of siblings called the Duhres who
are running the local drug trade, Police Chief Bob Rich told a public
forum Tuesday.

" The Duhre brothers - three brothers that worked at one point for [
slain Vancouver gangster] Bindy Johal - now control drugs in
Abbotsford .," Rich told the forum, which was organized by the
relative of a bystander killed in the Surrey Six slayings three years
ago.

" We are not going to keep our crime intelligence to ourselves. That
is what's going on. These three brothers are running gangs out here in
Abbotsford," Rich said. " We are going after them."

Rich said many in the community were not paying attention to the gang
problem before the Surrey Six slayings on Oct. 19, 2007, in which
Abbotsford gas fitter Ed Schellenberg was one of two bystanders killed.

Five men have now been charged in the gangland execution, including
Abbotsford's Jamie Bacon, though no trial date has yet been set.

Schellenberg's brother-inlaw Steve Brown organized the forum on the
Surrey Six anniversary to encourage people to come up with
constructive ways of improving the judicial system.

" I want this evening to be the beginning of people taking action,"
Brown said. " I want to see justice for my brother-inlaw."

Rich opened the event by saying the criminal justice system is too
fragmented, with both federal and provincial components and no one
overseeing all the relevant agencies.

The way courts have interpreted the Charter of Rights has made
prosecutions virtually unmanageable, Rich said.

He said the penalties being handed to those in the drug trade are no
disincentive for youth looking at gang life as " an acceptable career
option."

Marijuana-growing operations are the backbone of the local drug trade
and a single grower can gross $ 500,000 to $ 1 million a year from a
single grow-house in Abbotsford, Rich said.

If they are charged, as first time offenders, they might get fined $
1,500 to $ 2,000, he said.

Rich told the packed Matsqui Centennial Auditorium that the gang war
of 2009 came about when other gangs challenged the Bacons and their
Red Scorpion gang for control of the local drug trade.

"The Bacon brothers were in control of drugs in this city and other
gangs didn't like that. The Bacon brothers and the Red Scorpions are
extremely violent in their dealings with other gangs and other gangs
didn't like that," Rich explained.

Stepped-up enforcement and a series of high-profile arrests that
landed both Jamie and Jarrod Bacon in jail changed the local
landscape, Rich said.

" That gang war to some degree is over," he said.

The problem is that Sandip, Balraj and Paul Duhre and their associates
have taken over, Rich said.

He said police have executed at least six warrants linked to Duhre
associates.

" We now need to make them the focus."

Rich said specialized organized crime agencies in B. C. are
understaffed. They can only tackle about 15 per cent of the known
organized criminals in the province with their current resources, he
said.

Simplifying the court process would free up valuable policing
resources, according to Rich.

In B. C., he said, search warrant applications require police officers
to write up about 100 pages of detail because of anticipated Charter
challenges.

In Australia or the U. S., that same application would be about 15
pages long, he said.

Legislative changes could make cases move more smoothly through the
courts, Rich said.

" I believe we need to make changes."