Gang unit seizes cash and weapons following Kamloops homicides

Feb 4, 2019 | 12:55 PM

KAMLOOPS — After the provincial anti-gang unit made its presence known in Kamloops following two homicides, several weapons, drugs and cash were seized.

The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of BC (CFSEU), says in a news release that the unit’s Uniform Gang Enforcement Team (UGET) was deployed to the city in order to try and mitigate, disrupt and suppress any further violence.

The team conducted active and high visibility enforcement in Kamloops, including on those individuals or groups that may pose the greatest risk to public safety due to their involvement in gang or organized crime activity.

According to the release, UGET partnered with Kamloops RCMP and over four days, 78 vehicles were stopped and 132 people were checked, with the majority of those people connected to the street-level drug trade.

“Of concern to overall public safety was the number of potential weapons located within vehicles and in close proximity to, or in the possession of, the occupants.”

Four sets of brass knuckles, two spring-loaded knives, three machetes, eight axes, one butterfly knife, nine fixed-bladed knives, one can of pepper spray, four hatchets, nine folding knives, a magazine for a .22-caliber firearm, a box of .22-caliber ammunition, one empty pistol holder and one lock picking kit were all seized.

The CFSEU says in its release that many of these items may be everyday tools for the general public, but for individuals involved in criminal activity they can be dangerous weapons.

Roughly $40,000 in cash and small quantities of suspected cocaine, crystal meth and fentanyl were also seized.

No word on any charges as a result.