The violence continues in Surrey where the latest shooting happened about 11 p.m. Tuesday at a deserted house in the 7700-block of 155th St.
Surrey RCMP arrived at the scene to find one man with gunshot wounds. He was taken to hospital in stable condition.
And in Vancouver, another man wounded in the same shooting showed up at a hospital for treatment.
Sgt. Alanna Dunlop said the second victim’s injuries were also non life-threatening.
She had no information about how he got to Vancouver.
But she said it can be an issue when those injured in gunplay make their own way to hospitals as it can impact the collection of evidence.
“We have seen this happen where they show up at the hospital in a vehicle,” she said. “The sooner we can access the evidence, the better it is for an investigation.
The house where Tuesday’s shooting occurred appears to be slated for demolition like several others on the dead-end street. There was a notice on the door saying the hydro had been disconnected. There was also broken glass and a blood stain on the driveway.
Blood on the driveway of house in the 7700-block of 155 St. Surrey
RCMP S. Sgt. Murray Henderson said in an earlier news release that “the initial investigation has revealed that a dark coloured SUV-type vehicle was seen driving quickly away from the area shortly after the incident.”
“Officers are and will be conducting neighbourhood canvassing and speaking with witnesses to obtain further information. The investigation is still in its early stages, but initial indications are that this is a targeted incident,” he said.
The public gunplay in Surrey continued to be the focus of Question Period in the B.C. legislature Wednesday. My colleague Rob Shaw sent me some of the exchange.
Surrey NDP MLA Sue Hammell said the daily shootings are “becoming a sad and frightening norm in Surrey.”
She noted that Solicitor General Mike Morris said earlier this week that Surrey RCMP had surveillance teams “following gang members around day and night.”
“Where were those surveillance teams that were looking over the shoulders of the gangsters last night when Surrey marked its 32nd shooting so far this year?” asked Hammell, who represents Surrey-Green Timbers.
Premier Christy Clark responded, saying her government takes the issue “extremely seriously.”
“We need to take the time to add to the strategy on guns and gangs which we have deployed over the last several years, which has had a very real impact. But we need to do more, because the people of Surrey need to know that when their daughter or son walks home by themselves from a soccer game, that they are going to get home safe,” she said.
The Lower Mainland’s gang violence continues with a shooting in East Vancouver late Tuesday.
Vancouver Police Sgt. Randy Fincham said one man was injured in the targeted shooting near Oxford and Skeena.
The 33-year-old victim, who’s well-known to police, was “in the back yard of a home suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to hospital and underwent surgery, and is expected to survive,” Fincham said.
“While the motive for the attack has yet to be determined, the victim is well known to police and the shooting is believed to be gang-related,” Fincham said. “Police are conducting an ongoing search for witnesses and video and the VPD continues to investigate.”
No arrests have been made and if anyone has information, please call VPD’s major crime section at 604-717-2541 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
If I get more information, I will update this post.
If anyone can tell me more, please call me at 604-219-5740.
Police remained on the scene Wednesday of a clandestine drug lab inside a rental home just half a block from the White Rock waterfront.
The entire 800-block of Parker Street was behind police tape almost 24 hours after B.C.’s anti-gang agency executed a search warrant at the house Tuesday and found the clandestine lab.
S.Sgt. Lindsey Houghton, of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, said in a news release that two people were taken into custody after the search at the house, but haven’t yet been charged.
He said the RCMP’s Federal Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement and Response Team (CLEAR) was called in to support the investigation.
Police entered the home about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Houghton said.
“Upon entry, a 46-year-old man and a 31-year-old woman were located and taken into custody. After the arrest of the pair, officers discovered substances and paraphernalia consistent with what is believed to be an illegal synthetic drug lab,” he said.
He said the specialized CLEAR team “was called in to ensure that all of the materials inside the house that may be too dangerous for other officers to be in contact with are safely processed.”
“The house will be contained overnight and the CLEAR team will begin processing its contents tomorrow. It is not believed that there is any risk to the public,” Houghton said.
The house sold last year for $688,000 and had been rented.
NOTE TO READERS:
I’m told the former commenting system on the Real Scoop should be restored within a few days. Thanks for your patience. In the meantime, I will post some of the stories I’ve done over the last month and get you caught up.
And if anyone needs to reach me, feel free to email: kbolan@postmedia.com or call me: 604-219-5740
Surrey Mounties just announced the results of their Safe City Project where they were visiting licenced gun holders who had not re-registered restricted or prohibited firearms they have owned since before 1998.
They took 500 guns away from these owners until they are able to get their paperwork in order. Another 50 firearms were given up permanently by the people they visited.
As many readers have pointed out, this has nothing to do with the current gun violence in Surrey. But police say it is valid to make sure firearms that were once registered are still with the people who are supposed to have them.
Prior to 1998, restricted and prohibited firearms were registered under the Restricted Weapons Registration System.
The federal government then created the Canadian Firearms Information System and gave owners until Jan. 1, 2003 to re-register the guns.
The people visited in Surrey by the RCMP never did that. Until 2012 when the former Conservative government ended the Long Gun Registry, other non-restricted firearms were also registered. Now they’re not.
Surrey RCMP find 500 firearms with expired registrations
Surrey RCMP is safeguarding 500 firearms and 3,000 rounds of ammunition after visiting licensed owners whose registrations for their prohibited and restricted guns expired more than a decade ago.
Most of the people visited last month asked police to hold on to the guns “while they complete the proper requirements needed to re-register their firearms,” Sgt. Alanna Dunlop said Wednesday.
Those owners will have 90 days to get the paperwork started or they’ll lose the firearms permanently.
“Approximately 50 unwanted firearms were turned over to officers and ownership relinquished to police,” Dunlop said.
Surrey RCMP began working on the Safe City Project last fall and scheduled visits between April 4 and 22 after compiling data on gun owners who had not re-registered their firearms by 2003, after the federal government brought in a new system to do so.
RCMP Asst. Commissioner Bill Fordy said he “recognizes there are many reasons why gun owners may have let their firearms registration lapse, including not even realizing they are expired.”
“The vast majority of firearm owners in our city are compliant with the laws. The intent of the Safe City project is not to penalize gun owners, but to educate those with expired registrations on the legal requirements to own a firearm,” Fordy said.
“This project contributed to our overall goal of improving public and officer safety and reducing the number of unregistered firearms in Surrey.”
Dunlop said officers found many of the firearms were being stored improperly, “increasing the potential for them to fall into the wrong hands.”
She said some of the guns had been passed from a dead family member to others “with little to no knowledge about their status or the registration requirements.”
Both the National Weapon Enforcement Support Team and the anti-gang Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit worked with Surrey RCMP on the project.
“It is a fact that the majority of gun related crimes in our communities are committed with guns that are domestically-sourced,” said Insp. Chris McBryan of the national support team.
The Vancouver Sun revealed last month that police have seen a growing trend in B.C. where straw purchasers are getting gun licences, buying firearms and then reselling them to criminals. And in other cases, legally-owned firearms are being stolen.
Last November, Ridge Meadows RCMP also visited the homes of licence holders with expired registrations for restricted and prohibited firearms and seized 83 guns.
Dunlop showed off several of the firearms that police seized during the Surrey project, which included handguns and rifles.
She said despite the fact the owners have not had proper registration for years, they will not face any fine or other consequence.
When Bindy Johal associate Vik Chand was shot to death on Oct. 7, 1998 at a car dealership called Rags to Riches, it was big news. There had been a series of murders of people close to Johal. Just two months later Johal himself was gunned down.
RCMP homicide investigators worked the file, which led to the arrests of four people, including Simon Kwok Cheng Chow, an admitted drug trafficker who ran a pool hall called Club Dynasty. Police said at the time that he was in the Big Circle Boys and had paid off others involved in the murder. Also charge were Sameer Mapara, who owned Rags to Riches, George Wasfi and Shane Shoemaker, the actual shooter.
Another man who admitted he drove the getaway car cooperated with police and wasn’t charged.
All four accused were convicted even though Chow, Wasfi and Mapara were not at the scene of the crime. But there was phone evidence of them talking about the plot to kill Chand.
Chow, now 51, has been in jail for 17 years. He was sentenced to life with no hope of parole for 25 years. But last summer he applied to B.C. Supreme Court to get a “faint hope hearing” before a jury. This week a judge granted that application and the hearing, which could lead to him getting parole ASAP, will go ahead.
Metro Vancouver gang killer wins chance for early parole
A man convicted of first-degree murder in a high-profile gang case has won the right to have a jury decide whether he should get early parole under the “faint hope” law.
A jury found Simon Kwok Cheng Chow, now 51, was one of the men behind the gangland execution of Bindy Johal associate Vikash Chand in October 1998.
Chand was shot several times as he changed a licence plate at the Rags to Riches car lot in Burnaby.
Chow admitted he knew of the murder plot, but claimed he was not involved in it. Payments made to the killers were for a drug deal, he told the jurors who convicted him in 2001.
Chow was sentenced to a mandatory life term with no parole of 25 years. He unsuccessfully appealed his conviction to both the B.C. Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.
Chow applied to the B.C. Supreme Court for the chance to have a “faint hope” hearing, where a jury can decide to reduce a killer’s parole ineligibility period to as little as 15 years.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Greyell ruled this week that Chow should have a jury hear his case.
Greyell said Chow “has established on the balance of probabilities there is substantial likelihood of success that a jury will unanimously exercise its broad discretion to reduce or terminate altogether the parole eligibility for Mr. Chow.”
Greyell said Chow’s jury hearing should be held at “the earliest practicable time.”
And Greyell said the Crown will not be able to call an RCMP expert who was going to testify that Chow “was part of a Chinese organized crime criminal group” when Chand was murdered.
He said the Crown could rely on evidence from an earlier conviction “of Mr. Chow’s involvement in criminal gang activity.”
Greyell said Chow based his application for the faint hope hearing “on his personal growth and insights arising from his incarceration” and the fact he has been a model prisoner in recent years.
“Mr. Chow says he has never been a member of a gang or criminal organization while incarcerated, although this is disputed by the Crown,” Greyell said.
The Crown argued that Chow should not be allowed to have the faint hope hearing because of his “ongoing denial of his involvement in the murder of Mr. Chand” and “evidence of ongoing criminal gang connections and of a persistent criminal mindset.”
Greyell said the Crown would be able to cross-examine Chow at the jury hearing.
Three others (George Wasfi, Sameer Mapara and Shane Kelly Shoemaker) were also convicted in the Chand murder.
Shoemaker was found to be the shooter, while Wasfi and Mapara were part of the plot. A fourth man, Haddi Binahmad, admitted he drove the getaway car, but was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for testifying.
Shortly after Chand was shot on the afternoon of Oct. 7, his drug gang associates (Bindy Johal and Bal Buttar) showed up at the car lot.
Johal was shot to death two months later, and Buttar was paralyzed in a 2001 shooting. He died several years later.
When Theoren Poitras was found murdered in a Richmond school yard in October 2014, police said he was an Edmonton resident with gang links. And when his alleged killer – an Edmonton man – was charged a year ago, it was evidence that gangsters from Alberta had followed Poitras to B.C. to carry out a hit.
Now another Alberta man has been charged here in B.C. with first-degree murder in connection to Poitras’ death.
David Nguyen, 29, was already in custody on other charges when the new count was laid.
Here’s my new story:
Third man charged in 2014 gang slaying in Richmond
Kim Bolan
Vancouver Sun
B.C.’s anti-gang agency announced charges Friday against a third suspect in the October 2014 targeted murder of Theoren Poitras in Richmond.
S.Sgt. Lindsey Houghton, of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, said 25-year old Edmonton resident David Nguyen has now been charged with first-degree murder in Poitras’ fatal shooting.
Last year, Sean Jacob Lee Jennings, of Edmonton, was charged as the alleged shooter and Peter Edmonds was charged with accessory after the fact in Poitras’ murder.
Poitras was found face down in a pool of blood in the northwest corner of RC Talmey Elementary School, in the 9500-block of Kilby Drive after area residents reported hearing shots fired.
Theoren Poitras, killed in Richmond Oct. 2, 2014
Houghton said CFSEU worked with the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team and with the Edmonton Police Service on the case.
Houghton said Nguyen has been in custody since his arrest in March 2015 and is facing a total of 20 criminal charges in Edmonton, including break and enter, robbery with a firearm, unlawful confinement, aggravated assault and various other firearms charges.
“This collaborative effort by the CFSEU-BC, IHIT, and the Edmonton Police Service leveraged the expertise and abilities of each agency to most effectively target some of the most violent, prolific offenders operating in B.C. and Alberta in order to obtain successful criminal charges and get these individuals off our streets,” CFSEU Chief Supt. Kevin Hackett said.
IHIT Supt. Dwayne McDonald said the new charges against Nguyen “speaks to the tenacity our investigators show in their pursuit of evidence to solve gang related homicides which put the public at risk.” Edmonton Insp. Peter Bruni-Bossio said the cross-border cooperation was essential in the case “to prevent further violence, and hold individuals accountable for their behavior.”
RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson was in B.C. in late March speaking to the Vancouver Board of Trade, as well as the Vancouver Sun’s editorial board. One of the things he stressed was that police face real obstacles in trying to collect evidence from telecommunications companies, even when they have the court orders authorizing them to get the information.
He said it’s particularly an issue in child exploitation cases where online predators take great care to cover their tracks.
I thought this was an interesting story to pursue, especially with the recent U.S. case where the FBI was battling in court with Apple over getting access to data stored on the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters.
Police trying to stay ahead of criminals on technology front
Mounties were trying to investigate a threat to national security. But because they couldn’t get critical information from a telecommunications company, they hit a roadblock.
Despite pursuing other investigative avenues, the case went nowhere, Chief Supt. Jeff Adam, director-general of the RCMP’s technical investigation services, said in an interview.
“We spent roughly six months trying to design and implement a partial solution in order to get some of that data. But the gaps remained. And despite the judicial authorization, we’ve been unable to collect the evidence.”
The national security case is just one example of the obstacles police face as criminals and terrorists use cutting-edge technology to cover their tracks, Adam said.
In another case, the RCMP got a court order “to intercept email messages between suspected criminals — high-level drug traffickers in Canada — and we could intercept, but we could not read the email traffic that they were sending,” Adam said. “It was encrypted and this particular investigation involved some of our international law enforcement partners and we were unable to assist ourselves or them in getting the evidence.”
Adam said the inability to decipher encrypted messages even when police get warrants is a challenge in many investigations — particularly those involving national security, organized crime and child exploitation.
Another issue, he said, is “lack of requirements for data retention by our telecommunications service providers.”
Say police get a court order to obtain the text messages of a suspect in a case of threatening. But the company then tells investigators that it “doesn’t keep anything more than 24 hours, so that evidence is therefore expunged from the system,” Adam said.
RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson ADRIAN WYLD / THE CANADIAN PRESS
On a recent trip to B.C., RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson warned that while emerging technology has many benefits, “it’s also changing criminality and it is putting us at risk and maybe you have to think that through more.
He cited the recent U.S. case where the FBI took Apple to court to get the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino terrorists unlocked. Apple refused. The FBI finally found a third party who could crack the password.
“It’s just a taste of what’s before us in terms of how we are going to go down this road,” Paulson said. “It shouldn’t be up to the police to say how we are going to roll. I think the community needs to engage because the threat is manifest.”
Ann Cavoukian, executive director of Ryerson’s Privacy and Big Data Institute, thinks police exaggerate the technological obstacles they face. And she said they rarely “point out the advantages they have from technology.”
Ann Cavoukian TYLER ANDERSON/NATIONAL POST
“It is deceptive because while it’s true that occasionally they won’t have access to one or two communications that have been encrypted, largely speaking they have more access now to a wide variety, a wide swath of information that they never had access to before,” said Cavoukian, Ontario’s former privacy commissioner.
“They’re only pointing you to the small tiny percentage of cases where they might not be able to decrypt a phone because it has got end-to-end encryption. But that happens rarely.”
The law-abiding public relies on encryption to protect sensitive personal information — often including health and banking records — that they now store on their phones.
“All of this information is accessed through your iPhone and you want people to be able to encrypt that safely to protect it from all the cyber attacks that are taking place,” she said.
Cavoukian said there are huge privacy concerns with some of the technology police use in their investigations.
Media reports from a Montreal Mafia trial recently revealed that the RCMP had used a device known as a Stingray to intercept suspects’ calls.
The device is controversial because it mimics a cellphone tower, allowing police to collect information from their targets’ phones, but also from anyone else in the vicinity.
Last month, the office of the federal privacy commission confirmed it was investigating complaints about the RCMP’s refusal to discuss its use of the Stingray device.
Cavoukian said the lack of transparency by police just increases the public’s skepticism and distrust.
She said she has no problem with police getting proper warrants and getting the specific information they need for criminal investigations. But the fear is that law enforcement agencies have the ability to cast a wider net that unfairly ensnares law-abiding citizens, she said.
She also acknowledged that the public puts its own privacy at risk with by using wireless devices and fitness trackers that can send personal information to “dozens of parties unbeknownst to the individual and the information can be used against them.”
In a recent Pennsylvania case, a woman’s claim to police that she’d been raped was disproven by her Fitbit data.
“These wireless and wearable devices are sort of the wild, Wild West right now. People are so enamoured by the technology and they’re so excited about having a Fitbit and all that,” Cavoukian said. “They are not thinking it through.”
Adam said he doesn’t know of any similar cases in Canada where activity tracker data has become evidence in a criminal prosecution.
But he can see it happening.
“We have to be creative in an age where access to evidence in the form that we might have traditionally obtained it is becoming constrained by technology. But there is no reason why we can’t use technology in another way creatively that would support or not our criminal investigation,” he said.
But he also said police “are not vacuuming up the cosmosphere or cyberspace because we don’t have that capability No. 1 and, No. 2, that’s not our job.”
“Our job is to protect the public and go after the perpetrators of criminal activity,” Adam said. “Everything that we do that — and this is something that is missed often — is targeted, specific and limited to only what we need to do and authorized by an independent judiciary.”
Two gang associates with links to Alberta and Ontario are back in Vancouver Provincial Court this week after a disturbing incident at a Yaletown restaurant May 1.
Vancouver Police were called after a man got into a dispute with some other people at the restaurant and allegedly pulled a gun.
The people now facing charges both have gang links. And one of them, James Carlton Lewis, 29, has posted some telling images and videos on his social media sites.
A gang associate who allegedly brandished a gun inside a Yaletown restaurant on May 1 has posted photos and videos of himself with guns on his social media sites, The Vancouver Sun has learned.
James Carlton Lewis, 29, has also put up an infamous group photo of members of the United Nations gang on his Instagram account, under his rapper name — General Beanz.
Lewis was arrested by the Vancouver Police on May 1 following 911 calls saying a man had pulled a gun inside a restaurant after a dispute broke out.
He is now in custody facing charges of possession of a prohibited firearm with ammunition, uttering threats, careless use and storage of a firearm and occupying a vehicle knowing a firearm is present.
He is scheduled to appear in Vancouver Provincial Court May 12 for a bail hearing.
VPD media officer Const. Brian Montague said Lewis has warrants out of Alberta and Ontario for his arrest and a lengthy criminal record in both those provinces.
Montague said VPD officers “responded to a report of an argument between a group of people that involved a firearm in a Yaletown restaurant shortly after 9 p.m. on May 1st.
“Police located a cab near Homer and Davie Street with two men believed involved and took them into custody and a loaded handgun was located. Both men have gang associations,” Montague said.
Also charged is Louie Mojica, a 27-year-old Calgary resident who “is familiar to police in Alberta,” Montague said.
Mojica, who faces one count of occupying a vehicle knowing a firearm is present, is due back in court May 11.
Lewis raps under the name General Beanz and is featured on the website Cutthroat Mafia, which books concerts and other appearances for him and other rappers.
He sometimes raps with another gangster named Nicholas (Gon Gotti) Perron, who is listed as Cutthroat’s CEO on the site.
Perron was also identified in an Ontario court case as a member of the Calgary Fresh Off the Boat Killers (FK). He was convicted in Waterloo, Ont. in 2013 of weapons trafficking and robbery and was sentenced to 3.5 years.
Cutthroat’s website stated that Perron and Lewis rapped at a Vancouver nightclub on March 26.
The FK is closely aligned with the United Nations gang, founded in B.C. in 1997 by Clay Roueche.
Two Calgary men linked to the FK were charged earlier this year with conspiring to kill the Bacon brothers in B.C.
Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton, of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, said “the links between the FK and the United Nations go back many years.
“This is not unlike a lot of other gangs, especially in British Columbia, where they establish connections and even working relationships, business relationships with gangs and criminal organizations across Canada and even internationally.”
Surrey RCMP is saying there was a second shooting Monday that may be related to the one I wrote about below.
The Mounties issued a news release late this afternoon saying they are “currently investigating a second shooting that occurred on May 9th in addition to the shots fired incident in Newton last night.
“Police believe the two incidents may be connected to each other and are seeking additional information from the public.”
A man showed up at the hospital in Abbotsford with “non-life threatening gunshot wounds.”
The investigation is in the early stages, however, it does appear that this is a targeted incident that occurred in Surrey. The male involved is not from Surrey and he is known to police.”
Anyone with information about the incident that occurred about 2:20 a.m. in the 7500-block of 135 Street is asked to call Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502.
EARLIER POST:
It has been relatively quiet in Surrey in recent weeks after a disturbing 33 shots fired cases in the first four months of 2016 and a lot of public outcry.
But Mounties confirmed there was a shooting Monday about 7:45 p.m. in the 7200-block of 152 Street.
S. Sgt. Joe Johal said in a news release that Surrey officers are on the scene at a business in the area.
He said police “located evidence to support that shots had been fired in the area.”
“The initial investigations has revealed that two vehicles were involved in the incident. The suspect vehicle was seen fleeing from the scene shortly afterward the incident. The intended target vehicle has been located. No one was shot in that vehicle but one of male victim sustained minor injuries from glass fragments of the vehicle,” Johal said.
“Officers will conducting neighbourhood canvassing and speaking with witnesses to obtain further information. The investigation is still in its early stages, but initial indications are that this is a targeted incident.”
Anyone with further information who has not already spoken to police is asked to contact Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502 or, if they wish to remain anonymous, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or http://www.solvecrime.ca.
Here are some of the stories I wrote on the gun violence that I haven’t posted on the Real Scoop yet:
It was August 2014 when the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit announced details of the arrest of United Nations gang associate Robert Cletus Traverse on a large rural property north of Dawson Creek. He had tried to escape the police, barefoot and on an ATV. But he was eventually captured with a bag that police said contained a loaded handgun, cash and drugs.
Traverse pleaded guilty to drug and stolen property charges and was handed a 21-month sentence minus time served.
But he’s back in jail tonight facing more than two dozen new charges after Alberta police arrested him on another rural property where they found firearms, drugs and stolen property.
B.C. gang associate arrested in Alberta after standoff
A United Nations gang associate from B.C. has been arrested in Alberta after police there found an arsenal of guns, drugs and stolen property inside a rural home.
Robert Cletus Traverse, 35, was picked up with five others after police executed a search warrant May 1 at a house near Fairfax, Alta.
Traverse “remained armed and barricaded inside the home for three hours” after the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team arrived, ALERT spokesman Mike Tucker said.
Traverse eventually surrendered to an RCMP emergency response team.
“Traverse is an individual who is well known to police and has warrants in various jurisdictions across the country,” Coles said.
Traverse is wanted in B.C., Alberta and Newfoundland.
“Traverse was allegedly involved in criminal activity between the Alberta-B.C. Peace Region corridors, and he now faces 25 charges related to drugs, guns, and stolen property,” Tucker said.
During the search of the rural property police found nine firearms, an improvised explosive device, $50,000 worth of stolen property, and small amounts of crack cocaine and fentanyl.
“But it is believed that most of the drugs were destroyed during the execution of the search warrant,” Tucker said.
Traverse was already bound by a lifetime firearms prohibition at the time of his latest arrest.
“Three of the guns seized had their serial numbers defaced, including a restricted AR15 semi-automatic carbine,” Tucker said.
New charges laid against Traverse include possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession of an explosive substance and several firearms charges.
The other five arrested are Stephanie Catherine Payou, 28, David Lee Williams, 32, Charles Victor Morris, 26, Dean Allen Stafford, 34, and Tyler Allan Metz, 34. They face dozens of charges related to firearms, drugs and stolen property.
On August 2014, Traverse was arrested on a rural Dawson Creek property after another dramatic takedown by B.C.’s anti-gang police.
When CFSEU officers arrived, Traverse burst out of a stolen travel trailer barefoot and took off on an all-terrain vehicle.
With the help of an RCMP helicopter, police dogs were finally able to corner him four hours later.
He was found allegedly carrying “a bag that held a loaded Smith & Wesson .22-calibre handgun, approximately $35,000 in cash, five ounces of crack and powder cocaine, about half and ounce of methamphetamine, and several opiate pills,” CFSEU S. Sgt. Lindsey Houghton said at the time.
The specialized RCMP unit that cleans up clandestine labs was in the 800-block of Parker in White Rock for several days last week taking care of the chemicals inside a bungalow there.
And now police are releasing more information about what they found inside the house and in a vehicle linked to the two suspects arrested at the scene.
There was Fentanyl, pre-cursors and bricks of cocaine and heroin.
And just as disturbing, given all the recent gun violence, were the six firearms and all the ammunition found in the house and in a vehicle linked to the man and woman arrested. They haven’t been charged yet, so their names haven’t been released.
Here’s my story:
Police seize several guns in probe of White Rock drug lab
B.C.’s anti-gang agency says several firearms were seized last week during an investigation into a White Rock drug lab where deadly Fentanyl was found.
The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit released more details of what officers seized after a search warrant was executed at a rental house in the 800-block of Parker, just half a block from the beach.
Two people were arrested but have not yet been charged.
S.Sgt. Lindsey Houghton said in a news release that six firearms were found in the house and a vehicle linked to the suspects.
And police seized hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
“Upon initial entry into the residence, the CFSEU-BC officers discovered substances and paraphernalia consistent with what is believed to be an illegal synthetic drug lab. The CLEAR team was called in for an assessment,” Houghton said. “The house was contained overnight, and was subsequently searched over the remainder of last week. The house was searched and various firearms and drug-related items were discovered.”
Police seized a Kriss Vector .45 ACP rifle and a loaded Smith and Wesson handgun inside the house, as well as six magazines containing ammunition.
And they found more than nine kilograms in bricks of cocaine, as well as heroin containing Fentanyl and Tramadol.
There was also crystal methamphetamine, GHB, and other powders that haven’t yet been identified, as well as four bags full of tablets and a hydraulic press.
“Investigators will now await the results on the analysis of the majority of the unknown powders,” Houghton said.
In a vehicle linked to the man and woman arrested were four handguns, six magazines and 773 rounds of ammunition. The guns included a .22 calibre Ruger, a Browning Derringer handgun and two Prescott 1911 .45 calibre handguns.
Firearms and ammunition seized by CFSEU last week
The suspects had rented the house, which was sold a year ago for $688,000. A source said the owner had no idea there was a drug lab in the bungalow just have a block from White Rock’s East Beach.
A 46-year-old man remains in custody on unrelated charges, while the 31-year-old woman arrested was released on a promise to appear in court at a later date.
It looks like Hells Angels associate Kevin Van Kalkeren will be doing a long jail term after pleading guilty to conspiracy to import cocaine.
He was one of seven men charged in August 2012 after a reverse sting by the RCMP. But he played a major role in the drug conspiracy, federal prosecutor Chris Greenwood said today.
Greenwood wants an 18-year jail term for Van Kalkeren, who is now 47 and has no criminal record.
Van Kalkeren put up $4 million towards a 500-kilogram cocaine deal that ended up being a ruse by undercover police posing as South American drug traffickers.
Greenwood is also asking B.C. Supreme Court Justice Carol Ross for a forfeiture order for the millions police seized in the case.
Hells Angels associate caught in $4-million drug sting should get 18 years in jail: Crown
A Hells Angels associate who put up $4 million to smuggle half a tonne of cocaine into Canada should be sentenced to 18 years in jail, a federal prosecutor said Thursday.
Chris Greenwood said Kevin Van Kalkeren played a leading role in the conspiracy to import the “massive” shipment of cocaine, along with full-patch Kelowna Hells Angel David Giles and associate James Howard.
Hells Angel David Giles
Van Kalkeren pleaded guilty in January, three-and-a-half years after he was caught in a reverse sting by Mounties posing as South American drug traffickers.
Van Kalkeren’s co-accused in the case — Giles, Howard, Hells Angel Brian Oldham and associates Michael Read and Shawn Womacks — remain on trial before B.C. Supreme Court Justice Carol Ross.
But the trial is adjourned until Monday so the judge can preside over Van Kalkeren’s sentencing hearing.
Greenwood pointed to a series of meetings, encrypted BlackBerry messages and wiretapped conversations to show how critical Van Kalkeren’s role was in the fake deal.
The Okanagan man boasted that he had been involved in the drug trade for 18 years, producing 300 to 500 pounds of marijuana a month and then trading pot in Los Angeles for cocaine.
When a police agent introduced Van Kalkeren to undercover cops in 2011, he was keen to get involved in buying cocaine directly from South America, Greenwood said.
Hells Angel Brian Oldham.PNG
Over several months in 2011 and 2012, Van Kalkeren attended planning meetings in Vancouver, Mexico City and even Panama.
“The evidence revealed a conspiracy in which Mr. Van Kalkeren agreed with others, notably Mr. Giles and Mr. Howard, to purchase a purported shipment of 500 kilograms of cocaine and future shipments on a regular basis,” Greenwood said.
“Mr. Van Kalkeren played a leading role in the conspiracy. He was directly involved in the negotiations. He put up approximately $4 million of his own money as a down payment and was a central and instrumental figure in the plot from the very beginning of the undercover investigation ’til his arrest.”
Greenwood asked Ross for a special order that Van Kalkeren must serve half his sentence before being eligible for parole. Normally inmates can apply for full parole after serving a third of their sentence.
The federal Crown said the sophistication of the international smuggling plot and the volume of cocaine involved warranted the delayed parole eligibility.
Greenwood said the conspirators could have made between $7 and $15 million on the cocaine if the deal had been real.
Val Kalkeren, who’s now 47, had lots of options in life, unlike many who end up before the courts, Greenwood said.
His family had a large and successful farm near Osoyoos.
“This is a man who had choices. If you look at the facts of this case, Mr. Van Kalkeren had a piece of property with a swimming pool and a house,” he said.
“He also had $4 million in cash and despite all of that, he was … committed to bring in hundreds and hundreds of kilos of cocaine for his own personal profit.”
Van Kalkeren’s lawyer Ian Donaldson agreed that the appropriate sentence for his client is 18 years, but he asked for extra credit for the 45 months Van Kalkeren has spent in pre-trial custody.
Van Kalkeren has been held in isolation, Donaldson said, meaning he has had no interaction with other inmates and is allowed out of his cell for less than four hours a day.
Van Kalkeren repeatedly complained about the conditions but was told that jail officials believed Giles was a threat to his former co-accused.
Both Giles and Van Kalkeren denied there was any risk or conflict between them, Donaldson said.
Van Kalkeren suffered depression and was even suicidal at one point because of the harsh jail conditions, Donaldson said.
He also said there was no reason why Van Kalkeren should be kept in jail longer before being granted parole.
“The reality of Kevin Van Kalkeren beyond the circumstances before you is a lifetime as a hardworking farmer,” Donaldson said.
He said Van Kalkeren’s comments to police boasting of a history in the drug trade was just talk.
“He has worked on the farm since he was 14,” he said.
The sentencing hearing is scheduled to continue Friday.
Hells Angel associate Kevin Van Kalkeren will learn later this month how much time he’ll serve for his role in a massive international cocaine importation scheme.
His two-day sentencing hearing finished Friday at the Vancouver Law Courts with Justice Carol Ross reserving her decision until May 27.
Both Crown and defence accept that an 18-year sentence is appropriate. But Ross will have to decide if she agrees. What’s in dispute between the lawyers is now much pre-trial credit Van Kalkeren should get. The standard is now 1.5 days for every day in custody prior to conviction. But Van Kalkeren’s lawyer Ian Donaldson says 2-1 wouldn’t be out of line for the 47-year-old given he’s spent almost 45 months in isolation at North Fraser Pre-trial Centre.
Donaldson mentioned Friday that it was Van Kalkeren’s own bravado to uncover cops that got him denied bail in the first place. He told the officers posing as drug traffickers that he had money hidden abroad and passports so that he could flee is something went wrong with the 500-kilogram cocaine deal.
The trial of his co-accused may well be over Monday – earlier than expected. But that’s only if the other five defendants don’t call any evidence. I’ll keep you posted.
Hells Angels associate caught in reverse sting was “a bumbler,” lawyer says
A Hells Angel associate convicted of trying to smuggle half a tonne of cocaine into Canada was “a bumbler” with no experience in dealing with cocaine, his lawyer said Friday.
Ian Donaldson told a B.C. Supreme Court sentencing hearing for Kevin Van Kalkeren that his client was simply bragging to undercover police officers when he claimed he had previously exchanged large amounts of marijuana for cocaine in the U.S.
Donaldson claimed that while Van Kalkeren had some experience growing marijuana, “he insists that prior to this case, he never ever had anything to do with cocaine.”
And Donaldson said the $4 million Van Kalkeren handed over to police in a reverse sting in 2012 was not all his cash.
He “assembled investors,” Donaldson said, though added: “yes, some of the money was his.”
Van Kalkeren pleaded guilty in January to one count of conspiracy to import cocaine.
Both Donaldson and federal Crown prosecutor Chris Greenwood agree an 18-year sentence is appropriate for Van Kalkeren given the amount of cocaine involved in the fake deal.
But Donaldson told Justice Carol Ross that Van Kalkeren deserves extra credit for the 45 months he has spent in pre-trial custody, all of it in isolation.
He suggested double-time credit would be appropriate in this case given that Van Kalkeren’s Charter rights were violated by the conditions in which he was held.
And Donaldson also said Van Kalkeren should not be subjected to a longer period before becoming eligible to apply for parol.
Greenwood argued earlier that because of the sophistication of the cocaine plot and Van Kalkeren’s key role in it, he should serve half his sentence before he can get parole. Normally inmates can apply after one third of their sentence.
Donaldson said if Van Kalkeren was experienced in the cocaine trade, he never would have been duped by the undercover officers.
“These are talented officers and this is not their first rodeo,” Donaldson said. “They set the hook pretty early on Van Kalkeren and they never let him go.”
Experienced cocaine dealers never would have handed over so much money without getting some of the product delivered and without even knowing the purported brokers’ real names, Donaldson said.
“There is no product. There has been no samples. … They don’t know their true names. They had some text ability and they have given these people $4 million. What if they vanish?” Donaldson said.
“These are not the acts of sophisticated drug traffickers. Van Kalkeren, in my respectful submission and I do say this with due respect to him, is a bumbler in this league.”
He said some of his client’s comments that were intercepted in the investigation are “typical male chest-bumping, fist pumping, full of puffery.”
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“The words that came out of his own mouth over of a period of months convicted him.”
Ross reserved her decision on Van Kalkeren’s sentence until May 27.
The trial for Hells Angels David Giles, Brian Oldham and associates James Howard, Michael Read and Shawn Womacks on related charges is scheduled to resume Monday.
We learned in B.C. Supreme Court Monday that none of the Hells Angels or associates charged in the cocaine reverse sting by the RCMP are going to call evidence in their defence.
That means that the case will move into closing arguments after a month-long adjournment.
There are still a couple of issues related to admissions that are going to be argued next Monday. And on May 27th, Kevin Van Kalkeren will learn his sentence.
Hells Angels won’t call witnesses in their defence
Two Hells Angels and three of their associates have decided not to call witnesses or evidence in their defence in a massive cocaine conspiracy case in B.C. Supreme Court.
Lawyers for Hells Angels David Giles and Brian Oldham and associates James Howard, Shawn Womacks and Michael Read all told Justice Carol Ross Monday that they will not be calling evidence.
Federal prosecutor Chris Greenwood entered a final exhibit in the trial that began in February, before closing the Crown’s case against the five men Monday.
Lawyer Paul Gill, who is representing Giles, told the court he hoped to get the Crown’s agreement to enter an excerpt from an intercepted March 2012 conversation between undercover police officers and their targets.
And Oldham’s lawyer Robert DeBou said he also wants one intercepted call between his client and Giles entered as evidence. The call was made on Aug. 24, the day before the bikers and associates were arrested by the RCMP.
In it, the two Hells Angels discussed attending a Metallica concert the following day, DeBou said.
Closing arguments in the case will begin with the Crown on June 20, Ross said.
They are expected to last two to three weeks.
The key evidence in the Crown’s case was intercepted calls, conversations, videos and electronic messages captured during a 2011 and 2012 RCMP reverse sting.
Undercover officers, posing as South American drug traffickers, also testified for weeks at the trial about the fake deal they set up with the accused for half a tonne of cocaine.
The reverse sting involved meetings in Vancouver, Montreal, Mexico City and Panama, the trial heard.
Police seized almost $4 million that was paid in two instalments as a down payment for the cocaine.
Greenwood said the money came from Hells Angels associate Kevin Van Kalkeren, who has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to import cocaine.
The Osoyoos man was in court last week for his sentencing hearing.
Ross will rule on the term he’ll serve on May 27.
Two other associates also pleaded guilty before the trial of Giles, Oldham, Howard, Read and Womacks began.
Murray Trekofski and Orhan Saydam had lesser roles in the conspiracy, Ross said in her decision on sentencing.
Saydam, who pleaded guilty to possession for the purpose of trafficking in 2014, admitted that he provided counter surveillance on Aug. 25, 2012 “during the delivery of 200 kilograms of cocaine” to a Burnaby warehouse. He was sentenced to three years.
Trekofski, his childhood friend, also pleaded guilty to possession for the purpose of trafficking and possession of a loaded prohibited firearm. He was sentenced to eight years.
Earlier this week, I was the first reporter to talk to Surrey plumber Hardeep Singh Nijjar, whose name surfaced in news reports out of India as a suspected terrorist.
He told me he was innocent of all the allegations against him and said he was too busy working in his plumbing company to be involved in Sikh separatist politics.
While Nijjar is still asserting his innocence in a letter sent Wednesday to Prime Minister Justice Trudeau. But he is now saying he is very involved in Sikh separatist politics and believes the Indian government is falsely implicating him in violent acts as a result.
And Nijjar wants Trudeau to intervene on his behalf with Indian officials.
Surrey man writes to Trudeau claiming political persecution by India
A Surrey man whom the Indian government alleges is a terrorist has written to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claiming he is being persecuted because of his support for a separate Sikh nation.
Hardeep Nijjar, 38, confirmed to The Vancouver Sun Wednesday that he sent his letter to Trudeau after meeting with supporters in Metro Vancouver.
The letter says Nijjar has “never believed in, supported or been involved in any violent activity.”
“Because of my campaign for Sikh rights, it’s my belief that I have become a target of an Indian government campaign to label my human rights campaign as terrorist activities,” his letter said.
Over the weekend, The Times of India quoted a Punjab police intelligence report claiming Nijjar is wanted in a 2007 cinema bombing, is now the leader of a group called the Khalistan Terror Force and is running training camps for militants near Mission, B.C.
The report said India would be requesting Nijjar’s extradition.
The Canadian government has not responded to the allegations in the report. Nijjar told The Sun Monday it was all “garbage.”
He also told The Sun he was too busy with his plumbing business to be involved in politics.
However, in his letter to Trudeau, he says he is a political activist who has travelled to Geneva, Washington and New York to protest against the Indian government and to ask the United Nations to hold a referendum on Punjab independence.
“Mr. Prime Minister, I want to bring it to your attention that the Indian government’s campaign to label me a terrorist started when I actively participated in a campaign to collect signatures on a complaint to the United Nations Human Rights Council,” the letter said.
“I am a Sikh nationalist who believes in and supports Sikhs’ right to self-determination and independence of Indian-occupied Punjab through a future referendum.”
Nijjar also claims that his family living in and visiting his home state of Punjab have been harassed by police because of his actions.
Hardeep Nijjar during a protest.SUBMITTED
He said his father and brother were detained last year while visiting India and given a warning for him to curb his “anti-India campaign.”
Interpol has issued a warrant for Nijjar’s arrest based on information received from the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation.
Nijjar says in his letter that India “has blatantly abused its governmental authority” to place his name on the Interpol list without any justification.
And he wants Trudeau to intervene.
“I urge your administration to dispel the Indian government’s fabricated, baseless, fictitious and politically-motivated allegations against me,” Nijjar said.
He’s being assisted by New York lawyer Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who flew to B.C. to meet the father of two.
Pannun told The Sun Wednesday that he intends to file a complaint with Interpol about the warrant being issued with no underlying evidence.
“We will seek information from them, what are the underlying charges … and how they got investigated and what Interpol did on their part to verify it. It’s their responsibility to look into it,” Pannun said.
He said a similar Interpol warrant against a Sikh separatist in Portugal was recently withdrawn after a challenge.
It was on Aug. 14, 2011 when Kelowna residents got a big taste of the Lower Mainland’s gang violence problems.
Red Scorpion gangster Jonathan Bacon had been up at the Delta Grand hotel, along with his associates Hells Angels Larry Amero and Independent Soldier James Riach. They were in a Porsche Cayenne in the hotel parking lot when it was sprayed with bullets mid-afternoon. Bacon was killed, Amero was seriously injured and Riach was grazed by a bullet. One of the young women, Leah Hadden-Watts, was paralyzed in the shooting.
Three men have been charged with murder – Jujhar Khun-Khun, Jason McBride and Michael Jones – and will finally go to trial next November barring any further delays in the case. There are bans on publication in place on pre-trial proceedings.
But I recently learned and confirmed that another man had been charged with a lesser count in connection with the Bacon murder.
Another gangster quietly charged in connection with Jon Bacon murder
A Kelowna gangster has been quietly charged, convicted and sentenced for his role in the 2011 Jonathan Bacon murder, all without the public ever being told about his case.
The Vancouver Sun has learned that an indictment against Shane Timothy Dankoski was sworn in Vancouver Supreme Court on Jan. 4, 2016.
Three days later Dankoski appeared in New Westminster Supreme Court and pleaded guilty to one count of “enhancing the ability of the said criminal organization to facilitate or commit an indictable offence in the murder of Jonathan Bacon and the attempted murder of James Riach, Larry Amero, Leah Hadden-Watts and Lindsay Black.”
The organization is not named in the indictment, but is described as being “composed of, among others, Manjinder Hairan, Jujhar Khun-Khun, Jason McBride and Michael Jones.”
Hairan was shot to death in Surrey in January 2013 in Surrey. Khun-Khun, McBride and Jones have been charged with Bacon’s murder. They were back in a Kelowna courtroom Thursday but there is a ban on publication on pre-trial proceedings.
Their trial is scheduled for November.
Bacon, a Red Scorpion gang member, was shot to death outside a Kelowna casino on Aug. 14, 2011. In his vehicle during the attack were Amero, a Hells Angel, Riach, of the Independent Soldiers, and the two young women.
Shane Dankoski and Sukh Dhak, who is now deceased.
Dankoski, meanwhile, was sentenced to two years in jail for his role in the Kelowna conspiracy.
No reasons for his sentence have been made public.
Nor did the investigating agency, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, announce that he had been charged despite doing so in similar gang murder cases with multiple defendants.
Gordon Comer, of the B.C. Attorney General’s criminal justice branch, said the public wasn’t informed about Dankoski’s case because “there was nothing about this particular matter which required a media statement.”
“The plea and sentencing were dealt with in the normal course,” he said in an email. “As there are related files that are currently before the courts, we are unable to comment further about this particular matter.”
Jonathan Bacon, who was gunned down in 2011.
Less than three weeks before Dankowski was sentenced, the criminal justice branch advised the media to be in court for the guilty plea of Sophon Sek, a gangster who helped the Surrey Six killers access the apartment where they gunned down six people in October 2007.
Sek had been charged with manslaughter, but that was dropped after a deal was struck between his lawyer and the Crown in which he pleaded guilty to a single count of break and enter instead.
He was sentenced to a year in jail.
CFSEU Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton said he couldn’t comment on Dankowski’s charge or conviction or say why the matter wasn’t released to the public.
Dankoski, 31, was an associate of the late Sukh Dhak and his brother Gurmit. Sukh was shot to death in Burnaby in 2012, while his other brother was gunned down at Metrotown mall in 2010.
Dankoski had several run-ins with police in 2014 and 2015. He was charged in September 2014 with resisting and assaulting a peace officer in Kelowna. In January 2015 he was charged with unauthorized possession of a firearm and knowingly possessing a firearm without a licence. In March, he was charged with theft and possession of stolen property in Kelowna. He May 2015, he was charged in Surrey with breaching court conditions. In July, he was charged with assault.
But according to the online court database, all of his outstanding charges were stayed in January 2016 when he appeared first in Kelowna and then in Surrey provincial court.
I was surprised to get copies this week of photographs showing Jody York wearing Independent Soldiers gear at a recent B.C. golf tournament. I covered York’s sentencing hearing in Seattle in 2011 and he was adamant that the massive drug smuggling ring he was apart of had no gang links. He was frustrated that U.S. law enforcement agents said the group was working on behalf of the B.C. Hells Angels.
Sure York was a friend of HA member Hal Porteous, he admitted. But he said his decision to get involved in the drug ring with his long-time friend Rob Shannon was simply for money and not as part of any gang activity.
“We were never a gang or thought of ourselves as a gang. We were anti-gang. We hated most clubs and groups out there and never wanted to be a part of their drama or inner crap,” York said in his March 2011 letter to U.S. District Court Chief Judge Robert Lasnik.
“As for working for the Hells Angels, nothing could be further from the truth. When I was involved, we wanted to stay as far away from them, due to a fight I had with a member in a night club. I just knew how they worked things. As for them or anyone else being involved with other people in this case, after I left, it is not, nor do I want to make it, my business.”
York said he was sorry for his part in the drug ring.
“I knew every second what we were doing was wrong and illegal and did profit from it in every aspect,” York said. “I would like to apologize to the United States of America for any sadness, pain or hardship that any of my actions may have impacted on anyone.”
York told Lasnik he has turned his life around since leaving the drug ring in 2006. “I can only ask for you to judge me on the man I am today and not the man I was five years ago.”
He got a five-year sentence and transferred to a B.C. jail in 2013. Now he’s out and back with gang associates.
Metro Vancouver gangs expanding their web across B.C., police say
When Jody York was sentenced in the U.S. five years ago as a leader of a major international drug smuggling ring, he told the judge he was “anti-gang” and already reformed.
Now out of prison, York has made several recent appearances in B.C. wearing shirts with the logo of the Independent Soldiers gang.
And in one of those photos, believed to have been taken in the past week, York was posing with Jayme Russell, the former Kamloops leader of the notorious gang.
Police say both the Independent Soldiers and the offshoot Wolf Pack gang alliance are attempting to increase their reach across B.C.
Earlier this week, Kamloops RCMP announced a major bust of Wolf Pack members and associates there. Bruce Thomas Davis, 36, and Christopher Thomas Pace, 21, are facing several firearms and drug charges.
Cpl. Jodi Shelkie said Friday that more charges are expected against nine others who were also arrested.
Seven search warrants were executed during the four-month investigation and police seized cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, pot and fentanyl, as well as more than $80,000 in cash. They seized four .45-calibre handguns — two with silencers — a .25-calibre semi-automatic handgun, a .22 long gun, a Tec-9 “assault” firearm with silencer, a sawed-off shotgun, a crossbow and “a lot of ammunition,” Shelkie said.
“These guns just emphasize the violence that could happen between these people, but also the violence that comes to a community with organized crime as well as the violence that we’re dealing with as police officers when we’re doing our investigations,” she said.
Jody York (right) with Jayme Russell, the former Kamloops leader of the Independent Soldiers. Note the I.S. logo on the shirts. The picture was taken recently.
The suspects describe themselves as being in the Wolf Pack, she said.
The Wolf Pack was formed in Metro Vancouver in 2011 as a drug trade coalition of some members of the Independent Soldiers, Hells Angels and Red Scorpions.
Wolf Pack members Jonathan Bacon (a Scorpion), Larry Amero (an Angel), and James Riach (of the IS), were targeted in an August 2011 shooting in Kelowna that left Bacon dead.
Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton, of the B.C. Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, said Friday that the Wolf Pack has continued to operate since then “like a shell company” for its member gangs.
“Underneath are these people and these groups and this spider web of connections,” Houghton said.
The Wolf Pack had only recently moved into the Kamloops drug trade, though member gangs like the IS have been there for years. The Kamloops arrests have the Wolf Pack “licking their wounds,” Houghton said.
“They are going to have to re-establish and firm up their group in other communities before they go back to Kamloops,” he said.
Jody York at golf tournament
But the people “at the top and down through their organization have contacts and established footholds and connections in communities, not just in B.C. but across Canada and internationally,” Houghton said.
York, for example, was part of a ring that moved large quantities of pot and cocaine across the B.C.-Washington border. He was sentenced to five years by a Seattle judge.
Houghton said anti-gang officers have also seen the reappearance in recent months of Independent Soldiers wearing their gang logos on shirts and jewelry.
He said the gang is attempting “to cause fear and intimidation” just as the Hells Angels has been doing for decades with his death head skull patch and tattoos proclaiming gang membership.
“There is a reason why Hells Angels wear their patches as they drive down the street. It’s to put everybody on notice — their friends and their rivals,” he said. “It’s no different for the Independent Soldiers. … They are trying to re-establish themselves and part of that is the overt branding.”
Richmond RCMP is confirming late Saturday that a man shot in a mall parking lot in the 11300-block of Steveston Hwy. earlier this evening has now died.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team is now in charge of the investigation. They said more information will be released later Sunday.
The shooting happened just after 6 p.m. Saturday. The victim, a 56-year-old Richmond businessman, was inside a black pick-up truck when someone opened fire.
The mall was just closing and the parking lot was busy.
Cpl. Dennis Hwang said “no further details will be available at this time.”
A Richmond developer was shot to death Saturday night in a targeted murder outside a busy strip mall at Steveston Highway and No. 5 Road.
Everyone I’ve spoken to is scratching their heads about who would have wanted to kill Amar Singh Sandhu, who was the president of Sandhill Development Ltd.
Police are now saying the witness was a man in his early to mid-20s, about six feet tall, with a slim build and wearing a grey hoodie or coat, medium to dark-coloured pants and possibly a baseball cap.
Sandhu was gunned down after meeting his friend for coffee at the Tim Horton’s in the parking lot of the Ironwood Mall. Sandhu’s own office was less than a block away in another strip mall that his company built.
Richmond mayor shocked at murder of well-known developer
Richmond politicians expressed shock and concern Monday after the brazen fatal shooting of local developer Amar Singh Sandhu.
Mayor Malcolm Brodie said Sandhu was an “active member of the community.”
“We were really shocked and saddened by the shooting death of Amar Sandhu,” he said. “We’re just very sorry for Amar and his family and friends.”
Brodie confirmed that Sandhu was a regular at the mayor’s fundraising dinners.
Records from the last municipal election show donations to Brodie’s campaign of $2,250 from Sandhu’s Sandhill Developments and Sandhill Homes Ltd.
Sandhu also contributed to the campaigns of several councillors in Richmond and Langley, the two municipalities where he did most of his commercial and residential developments. Records show he also donated to the B.C. Liberal Party.
Sandhu, 56, was sprayed by gunfire as he stood beside his black pickup truck in the parking lot of the Ironwood Plaza just after 6 p.m. Saturday.
Staff Sgt. Jennifer Pound, of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said Monday that police are looking for a male suspect in his early to mid 20s, about six feet tall, with a slim build. He was wearing a grey hoodie or coat, with medium to dark pants and possibly a baseball cap, she said.
She said investigators “continue to move forward with evidence processing and managing the many witnesses who have come forward.”
Brodie said others in the community are not at risk given that the shooting was targeted.
“This is a very shocking event for the entire city of Richmond. It is certainly something that is a very rare event. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, it was a targeted type of crime. The general public shouldn’t feel ill at ease because it wasn’t random in any way.”
Sandhu’s brother Jasbir Singh said he was devastated when he got the call about the shooting from his niece.
“It is a big shock,” he said in a brief phone interview. “I am not in the right state of mind.”
He said he has “no idea” who could have done this to his brother, who also did volunteer work for the poor.
Sandhu also donated $3,000 to the Richmond First party in the last election — $500 each from his companies SSB Homes Ltd. and Sandpak Ventures Inc., and $2,000 from Sandhill Development (Langley) Ltd.
Richmond Councillor Bill McNulty said Monday he was also shocked to hear the news about Sandhu.
“It is very tragic. I did know him,” McNulty said. “We’re shocked anything like this happened in Richmond and we’re more shocked that it happened to him.”
He said he hadn’t seen Sandhu in a while, but would usually run into him at “fundraisers and functions from time to time for various organizations.”
“He was a community man. He was involved in the community in many, many ways,” McNulty said. “He cared about his community.”
In the mid-1980s, Sandhu was a member of the International Sikh Youth Federation, which was later designated a banned terrorist group.
In 1986, Sandhu and eight others were charged with conspiring to murder a visiting Punjabi cabinet minister who was wounded in a shooting on Vancouver Island.
Sandhu became a Crown witness against the four men accused of being directly involved in the shooting.
He testified that he rented the vehicle used to travel to Vancouver Island and delivered it to one of the accused men. All four were later convicted of attempted murder.
The conspiracy charge against Sandhu and the others was stayed after it was revealed that Canada’s spy agency had illegally obtained the wiretap warrant to gather evidence in the case.
Metro Vancouver businessman gunned down in targeted hit
Amar Sandhu handed out food to the poor at Hastings and Main starting at noon Saturday as a volunteer with the Guru Nanak Kitchen.
Then he stopped at Vancouver’s Ross Street temple, where he spent a couple of hours overseeing membership registration for a hotly contested election in September.
Hours later, the businessman was dead, the victim of a fatal shooting in the parking lot of a busy Richmond strip mall.
Staff Sgt. Jennifer Pound, of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said the attack was targeted.
“There is an extra element of concern when one chooses to commit this crime in such a bold and brazen manner in a very public setting,” she said. “Fortunately, no other individuals were injured.”
Those who knew Sandhu are struggling to figure out the motive.
“I never imagined why someone would kill him,” said Gurpreet Singh Sahota, editor of Surrey’s Chardhi Khala newspaper.
Some are speculating it’s linked to the temple election, but Sahota said he doubts politics could be behind the violent attack.
And others are suggesting it could be related to Sandhu’s Sandhill Development Ltd., which has built residential and commercial projects in Richmond and Langley.
“No one really knows. It is just speculation. The community is in shock,” Sahota said.
Kashmir Dhaliwal, Ross Street temple’s assistant secretary, said Sandhu didn’t seem concerned about anything as he spent time there Saturday supervising the membership drive.
“Everything was OK. He were enrolling the membership,” said Dhaliwal, who’s from the opposing slate. “He talked to us very nicely. We had some discussions. Everything was fine.”
Dhaliwal, who called Sandhu “the leader of the opposition,” said there are no tensions between groups running for the election despite a court battle that led to the order to re-do the membership list.
Sandhu left Ross Street about 4:45 p.m., according to Dhaliwal.
Several sources told The Vancouver Sun that he then met a friend for coffee at the Tim Horton’s in the Ironwood Mall in Richmond.
They parted company about 6 p.m. and Sandhu was heading back to his black pickup truck when he was shot several times.
Pound said he was taken to hospital, but pronounced dead a short time later.
His close friend Santokh Singh said Sandhu “was such a nice guy.”
“We are also grieving. We just heard late last night. So we are in shock,” he said.
He said he has no idea who would target the businessman who was committed to his community.
“I can’t comment. Let the police and everybody investigate and we’ll go from there,” he said.
The Sun left messages for several relatives of Sandhu, who did not call back.
Amar Singh SandhuGURPREET SINGH SAHOTA
Sahota said Sandhu had shifted from putting all of his focus on his business to doing more volunteer work, including with the group that hands out food in the Downtown Eastside.
And Sahota said Sandhu “spent more than $250,000 from his own pocket for the temple election.”
Sandhill has been involved in dozens of lawsuits over the last 10 years, according to the online B.C. court database.
Some of the suits involved sub-contractors on Sandhill projects who alleged they hadn’t been paid.
But Sandhill also filed lawsuits, including one that is continuing against the owner of a neighbouring property, who Sandhu alleged damaged his building during some construction.
Back in the 80s, Sandhu was a member of the now-banned International Sikh Youth Federation.
The Deo brothers have been known to police in Metro Vancouver for more than 15 years. The family used to have Bindy Johal as a neighbour in Queensborough.
In 2005, the victim of a gang kidnapping was held in the garage of their New Westminster home. Police arrested Harjit Deo and others linked to the Independent Soldiers gang on the Deo family property.
Now Harjit’s brother Sukh Deo, 34, has been shot to death in Toronto, where he moved a few years ago and started a trucking company.
Former Metro Vancouver gangster shot to death in Toronto
A former Metro Vancouver gangster was shot to death in Toronto Tuesday afternoon in a brazen attack that surprised even local police.
Sukh Deo, 34, was inside a white Range Rover when two men started firing at him just before 3 p.m. local time in an alley near the busy intersection of Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue.
Toronto police Supt. Reuben Stroble told reporters at the scene that the fatal shooting “is a big surprise for this area, especially at this time of day.”
The luxury vehicle had at least 14 bullet holes visible on the driver’s side window.
Sukh’s uncle, Sohan Deo, confirmed it was his nephew who was killed.
The dead man’s father Parminder got a call from someone in Ontario, Sohan Deo said, and headed to Vancouver airport to get a flight to Toronto.
Parminder called his brother before he left.
“The family is very upset,” Sohan Deo said. “It is terrible.”
He said his nephew, who was married with young children, had moved to Toronto a few years ago and was running a trucking company with a friend.
“I went there in May and I stayed with him a few days. He took me to where those trucking businesses are,” Deo said.
He said he has no idea why his nephew would have been targeted.
“I really can’t say anything. It’s hard for me to say anything because he was over there,” he said.
Sukh Deo was well-known to police in the Lower Mainland and was a suspect in at least one continuing investigation here at the time of his murder.
His brother Harjit was convicted in a 2005 gangland kidnapping along with others in the Independent Soldiers gang. The kidnap victim had been held in the garage of the Deo family home in New Westminster, where police later arrested several suspects.
Sukh’s father Parminder is wanted on an Interpol warrant on drug smuggling charges laid in India. He earlier told The Sun he was innocent and had hired a lawyer in the Punjab to fight the case.
Sukh Deo was an avid fan of the Toronto Raptors, his uncle said. Just last month he was ejected from his courtside seat at Game 4 of the Raptors’ playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers after heckling the referees.
Sukh Deo (second from left in jeans and black shirt) talks to officials as he is ejected from a Toronto Raptors game last month. Deo was shot to death in Toronto on June 7, 2016. TSN/YOUTUBE / PNG
“All our kids, they watched him on that day,” Deo said. “He was a really big fan of that team. He always goes to watch the games.”
Toronto police said on Twitter that they’re looking for two men in Deo’s murder. They were seen fleeing the area in a black car. Both were wearing construction vests — one green and one orange.
In B.C., Sukh Deo had convictions for resisting a police officer, driving while suspended and assault.
Anyone with information about his murder is asked to call the Toronto Police Service homicide squad at 1-416-808-2222 or Crime Stoppers 1-800-222-8477.
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![Sukh Deo (second from left in jeans and black shirt) talks to officials as he is ejected from a Toronto Raptors game last month. Deo was shot to death in Toronto on June 7, 2016. TSN via YouTube, screen grab. Best image quality available. [PNG Merlin Archive]](http://wpmedia.vancouversun.com/2016/06/sukh-deo-second-from-left-in-jeans-and-black-shirt-talks-t.jpeg?quality=55&strip=all)
