Boats, cars seized in Eastern Shore bust

The smugglers came ashore in a speedboat to unload their cargo of hash oil under the cover of darkness at a wharf in the Liscomb area on the Eastern Shore.

But RCMP officers were there to ambush the carefully executed operation and shortly after midnight Sunday swooped in to arrest 12 people, seize three boats and haul away six cars and trucks.

"We were there waiting," Sgt. Mark Gallagher, an RCMP spokesman, said in an interview. "We knew about it and we were able to prepare ourselves for this."

Sgt. Gallagher wasn’t able to disclose the quantity of drugs captured but said it was a significant amount being imported from abroad by a major organized crime group in Ontario.

"It seems to be a fairly well-orchestrated operation," he said. "You see something like this every few years."

While police were rounding up suspects on land, another group of RCMP officers set out in a small zodiac-type boat from HMCS Fredericton to swiftly intercept and board a 14-metre sailboat lurking offshore.

The takedown went smoothly.

"Anyone that would be in that position would be surprised — they wouldn’t expect it," Sgt. Gallagher said of the suspects.

But he said "this was not a Miami Vice-type of arrest."

RCMP had worked with the drug section of Halifax Regional Police, Hamilton Regional Police from Ontario, the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Coast Guard, which also had a vessel assisting in the bust.

Sgt. Gallagher wouldn’t specify how many people were arrested on land and how many at sea.

"Most of them probably would have been arrested on" land, Sgt. Gallagher said. "I believe that most of them are Canadian."

Officers seized the speedboat, measuring about nine metres in length, at the wharf, along with a five-metre-long motorboat, Sgt. Gallagher said.

Those vessels were towed to RCMP headquarters in Halifax, about 100 kilometres from Liscomb, while the large sailboat was taken to Shearwater.

Sgt. Gallagher described the sailboat as a "high-end" vessel built for the ocean.

"They’re made for blue water," he said. None of the boats seized were believed based in Nova Scotia, he said.

Four years ago, the RCMP netted a similar catch in the same vicinity off the Eastern Shore when officers boarded a 15-metre sailboat near the White Islands, near Moser River.

In that operation, they seized 500 kilograms of cocaine, arrested five people in Nova Scotia and smashed a Quebec-based drug smuggling ring.

Comments

[Magali]

Ca fait drôle de lire des noms qu'on connait dans le journal et de se dire que tu as participé ;-)

(PS: ok oil= résine donc? Là j'ai l'air conne pour sûre maintenant :-D)

[Hans]

En bref, HMCS Fredericton (i.e. mon bateau) à intercepté et abordé dimanche matin un voilier dans le cadre d'une opération anti-stupéfiants de la Gendarmerie Royale du Canada. 12 personnes ont été arrêtées, 3 bateaux et 6 véhicules divers ont été saisis ainsi qu'une grande quantité de résine de hachich.

[GTT]

Wade?
Frédérique

[Maman/Béatrice]

On en parle dans plusieurs journaux. Et c'est comique de demander la traduction en français!

[Maman/Béatrice]

On attend des nouvelles de ce WE.