SWEEPING BUSTS MAKE 'SIGNIFICANT DENT' IN DRUG TRADE

Police Arrest 28, Seeking 50 More

They're calling it their largest drug sweep ever - and this time they used
money seized in past crimes to lure suspected dealers.

Halifax Regional Police had arrested 28 people by 5 p.m. Thursday and
expected to arrest about 50 more in a sweep of wholesale drug dealers in
metro Halifax.

Those arrested range in age from 14 to 65. Police allege the majority take
drugs from suppliers, cut the product and distribute it to street-level
dealers.

Half of the $200,000 that undercover cops spent to make their drug buys and
cover other unspecified operative costs came from liquidated assets or cash
seized from convicted crooks.

This is the first time the regional force has used proceeds-of-crime money
to help fund an investigation.

Arraigned In Court

"We're not naive enough to think that we've eliminated the drug trade but
we have made a significant dent in the distribution trade," Supt. Chris
McNeil said at a news conference Thursday afternoon.

"It's our deepest infiltration yet into the whole drug distribution system
and it should be a message that we will go deeper."

The arrests began Wednesday night, as officers stopped two vehicles,
arresting nine people. One of the vehicles contained crack cocaine with an
estimated street value of $50,000.

Fifteen residences and three businesses, mainly in the Spryfield area, were
hit by 70 police officers Thursday as part of Operation Mid-way.

Two raids were still underway Thursday afternoon.

Officials said they seized at least $300,000 in cocaine, crack, hash,
marijuana and ecstasy. They've counted about $100,000 in cash, as well as
vehicles, weapons and equipment.

Officials did not have exact details about the haul because it is still
being catalogued.

"There's no questions that this is linked to higher levels of organized
crime. It's somewhat a given that the drug trade is controlled by organized
crime," Supt. McNeil said.

"Motorcycle gangs . . . are one of the most significant organized crime
entities and could be behind supplying some of these drugs."

All people involved are connected somehow, whether through family
connections or as neighbours and friends, police say.

In talking to area residents where Thursday's raids occurred, the possible
connections to organized crime started to appear.

The owner of the property at 390 Herring Cove Rd., site of the Sprytown
Fast Cash pawnshop, is Deborah Lynn Melvin.

Ms. Melvin once lived at the same Philip Drive address in Fall River as
James Melvin.

Mr. Melvin was arrested in December in a sweeping raid targeting the Nova
Scotia chapter of the Hells Angels. He was charged with trafficking hashish
in Halifax on Feb. 9 and March 29.

In late 1992, a ship laden with $20 million in cocaine sank off
Newfoundland after a high-seas pursuit by the U.S. Coast Guard.

James Melvin spent two days looking for a vessel to get to the mother ship,
not knowing the cargo was lost.

He was sentenced in 1997 to five years in prison for conspiring to traffic
cocaine.

Mr. Melvin also received eight years in prison in 1994 after police seized
3.5 tonnes of hashish from a dump truck near Chester in 1991.

Outside the raided pawnshop Thursday afternoon, one customer looking to
reclaim his 310 Yamaha guitar was upset the business was closed.

Told of the drug raids, he said: "Every third building has that going on
out here. You know what I mean, man?"

The building adjacent to Sprytown Fast Cash - P.G.'s Pizzeria, partly owned
by Theodore C. Bremner - was also raided.

Brian James Bremner, also known as B.J. Marriott, used to work at the pizzeria.

He is now charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Parker
Vaughan (Dinky) Sparks, 26, outside a Clayton Park bar.

After he was arrested May 2 outside a Woodcrest Avenue apartment, drug
section officers searched the apartment and found $180,000 worth of
marijuana, growing equipment, two handguns, ammunition and $9,000 in cash.

He and three others were charged with drug, weapons and other offences.

Jason Terrance Dorey, 24, of Halifax, a good friend of Mr. Bremner's, is
also charged in the murder.

National Parole Board documents said at the time that Mr. Dorey is part of
a group called the Spryfield mob.

Some officers have privately questioned whether such a group exists.

Mr. Bremner once lived on Guildwood Drive, off Leiblin Drive, in Spryfield.

Undercover officers raided his former home there Thursday shortly after noon.

The officers took plastic bags filled with leafy plants out of the
residence, a neighbour said, not wanting to give a name.

"We're not on the best of terms and I'm afraid of them. B.J. used to live
over there and that's enough, right?"

Dawn Bremner, a relative of B.J.'s, lives there and was arrested.

On Bridget Avenue in Spryfield, neighbours watched as police raided a
mobile home near the intersection with Sylvia Avenue.

"It is a drug place," an area resident said. "But we've . . . lived here 15
years and we've had no trouble."

Brief stop-and-go trips into the residence have been frequent over the
years, she said.

"It doesn't bother me at all. . . . We're so used to it."

An elderly woman, who was among those arrested, and a couple live in the
Bridget Avenue trailer.

Police expect the arrests to continue through the weekend.