Kamloops RCMP shut down organized crime operation
By Contributor
An extensive and complex eight month undercover drug investigation initiated by the Kamloops RCMP has shut down an organized criminal dial a dope operation in Kamloops and dismantled the main supplier of cocaine to that group.
Project ENOCTURNAL began on February 1 of this year after criminal intelligence identified an organized crime group with ties to a lower mainland gang was setting up a dial a dope operation that prominently trafficked cocaine in Kamloops.
The group was mobile and would orchestrate the sale of cocaine at the street level via orders received via telephone communication.
The group was well organized, was trafficking large amounts of cocaine [close to one kilogram] on a monthly basis and were profiting on the addiction created by the sale of this illegal drug.
The predominant client base for the illegal cocaine trade was identified as being from well established, employed cross section of the community who were able to support the high cost associated to the weekly use of the illegal drug. These weekly users were spending upwards of $1000 per month on cocaine.
The Kamloops RCMP Special Projects Unit, composed of 13 members from the Drug and Property Crime Section, was assigned to Project ENOCTURNAL.
During the course of the investigation, the Kamloops RCMP members were assisted by additional Provincial and Federal Drug resources including undercover drug officers, surveillance teams, electronic surveillance experts and wire tap specialists.
In the last two weeks of the investigation, an additional eight officers from Kamloops were added to the investigative team.
The undercover drug operators effectively infiltration of the Drug Line and 20 cocaine purchases were made in amounts ranging from one gram at $90, to three ounces at $5000.
During the course of the investigation, an authorization to intercept private communications, including text messages, was granted and the investigative team began to monitor the private communications of two persons associated to the group and the Drug Line itself.
Through different investigative techniques, all the individuals associated to this group were identified including the purchasers, distributors and the main cocaine supplier who is a Kamloops resident.
