Nearly decade-long RCMP drug investigation comes to a close

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The RCMP Federal Serious and Organized Crime (FSOC) recently concluded an international drug investigation that started in 2014 and involved a cocaine bust in Fort St. John. 

According to a release on the investigation by the RCMP put out on March 6th, approximately half a pound of cocaine was seized in Fort St. John as a result of the FSOC’s work. Police did not reveal when the drug bust occurred. 

The international investigation led to multiple arrests and seizures across Canada, the USA, the Caribbean, and Peru. 

The release stated the investigation into organized crime in the province began when two men, Joseph Thomas and Bradley Wise, were arrested for importing 30 kilograms of cocaine on Vancouver Island in 2014. 

Thomas pled guilty to the offence and was sentenced to three years and six months in prison. Bradley was arrested and imprisoned in the USA for his role but still has an outstanding warrant for his arrest in Canada. 

The FSOC investigation into organized crime has led to the seizure of multiple types of drugs, including cocaine, fentanyl, MDMA, methamphetamine, and heroin. 

A series of arrests and searches in Vancouver, Surrey, and Nanaimo in 2016 also led to the seizure of over $2 million in cash, a handgun, and an abduction kit. 

Some of the other notable incidents included the arrest of Norman Gilbert Reil after his escape from prison, the disruption to a sailing ship near the Galapagos Islands with 860 kilograms of cocaine, and the arrest of Simon Peter Danielson, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Florida. 

The RCMP reported that the FSOC received assistance from a number of international partners over the course of the investigation, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Peruvian National Police, The Peruvian Coast Guard, the Panama Express North strike force, Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard, U.S. Coast Guard, French Customs Martinique, Trinidad and Tobago Transnational Organized Crime Unit, and the Joint Inter-Agency Task Force South.

According to the RCMP release, the “majority” of the investigation has been completed. Assets, cash, and properties associated with the criminal networks are still going through the court process, and no further comment can be made at this time.