A raid by West Shore RCMP and Victoria PD has uncovered the substantial spoils of a gang-related drug dealer, including a storage unit police are describing as a "war room."
The two police agencies, along with the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of B.C., have seized over $40,000 in cash, along with guns, bullet-proof vests and drugs, in a raid of five houses in Langford and Colwood. The search has led to the arrest of two men, including an alleged gang-related drug dealer.
Wednesday's searches were the culmination of an investigation which has been ongoing since last July and targeted two men, one of which police say has ties to the Red Scorpion gang active in the Lower Mainland.
Police used covert investigative techniques to uncover the drug dealing techniques of the suspect and his associate. For West Shore residences and a storage locker were linked to the pair and police were granted search warrants.
Early Wednesday morning Vic PD officers, CFSEU-BC and more than a dozen RCMP officers searched the homes and arrested Dezmond White and Abraham McMillan.
Inside the homes cops found the money and over half a kilogram of cocaine, along with heroin. Police also seized a newer model Dodge Charger in connection to the crimes.
Inside the storage locker police found what the describe as a "war room," with six sets of body armour plus a shotgun and a handgun, both with ammunition.
Both White and McMillan have been charged with possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking. Other charges are being looked at.
"These arrests are another example that the tentacles of gangs and gang violence reach every corner of our province," said CFSEU-BC spokesperson Sgt. Lindsey Houghton in a press release. "The investigation shows once again that police are committed to working together, regardless of jurisdiction, to take gang members and their associates, who continues to spread their misery in communities across B.C., off of our streets."