Massive drug bust
Surrey RCMP Superintendent Shawn Gill said the seizure occurred when officers pulled over a vehicle driven by a resident of Abbotsford, Pardip Hayer, 30. Gill said Hayer was pulled over as part of an “ongoing investigation.”
The drugs found in the vehicle along with fentanyl were cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. Hayer is behind bars and facing 4 counts of trafficking in a substance under the Controlled Drugs and Substance Act.
The bust is being heralded by police as one of the largest in the history of Surrey law enforcement. The drugs came from outside of Canada, Gill said, but were headed for communities in B.C. as well as the rest of Canada. It represents a sizable blow to the crime group they are investigating.
While all drugs seized are deadly, fentanyl is especially so. From 50 to 100 times more toxic than morphine, it acts as a respiratory depressant and slows the heart rate and makes breathing difficult.. In B.C. in 2014 there were some 300 deaths from drug overdose and 25 percent involved a drug containing fentanyl.
Surrey gun violence
Meanwhile, shootings in Surrey continue and this year to date RCMP have responded to 28 shots fired calls and it is believed drug trafficking is behind the rampage. There have been three arrests made in connection to shootings in 2016.
Most shootings occur between 9 a.m. and 6 a.m. and Gill said are targeted so danger to the community is not as great. However, that isn’t stopping them from “attacking this situation now and…attacking it aggressively.” He said their efforts, including intelligence gathering, are making “it very difficult for these people to conduct their illegal business in our city.”
The superintendent noted that they made “over 800 arrests and detentions” last year in relation to drug wars, many related to conflict between a Somali gang and an Asian gang, a drug war responsible for dozens of shootings. He said they “disrupted” their illegal activities as a result.
Police believe much of this year’s gun violence is from lower-level gangs, two in particular, that have moved in to take over drug-trade turf left available with so many members of older crime gangs either off the streets or otherwise out of circulation.
“The individuals change and the drugs change,” Gill said. “But the problem remains the same — young people are being lured into this criminal lifestyle with illusions of money and power, but the reality is much different.”
