Vancouver Drug Bust

[MrJim]

<DIV =storyline>Mounties strike blow in 'middle' of drug trade</DIV>
<DIV =storysub>ONE STILL AT LARGE: Police say they have 'disrupted' Lower Mainland drug flow</DIV>
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<TD colSpan=2>Matthew Ramsey</TD></TR>
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<TD colSpan=2>The Province</TD></TR></T></TABLE>
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August 28, 2005</DIV>

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Police have arrested three men, confiscated cars and $100,000 in cash, and seized a vast quantity of drugs in an effort to disrupt the Lower Mainland drug trade.


Cpl. Pat Murphy, head of Burnaby's RCMP drug section, described the results of Project E-Peat as a "stiff blow" to alleged influential mid-level drug traffickers.


"We're hoping for maximum disruption," Murphy said. "This [police operation] does have significant impact at the user-end level. More importantly, it deals a blow to this organization."


Investigators with the Burnaby drug team, along with their counterparts in the Vancouver police and North Vancouver RCMP, executed warrants in Burnaby, Vancouver and West Vancouver.


Seized items include: 4.5 kilograms of cocaine, 1,676 ecstasy pills, close to 700 methqualome pills, 575 grams of ecstasy powder, 112 grams of methamphetamine, 39.5 grams of heroin and about 95 grams of marijuana.


Police also recovered a Glock .40-calibre handgun, $100,250 in cash, a 2001 Audi, 2001 Porsche and 2003 Jeep.


Andrew David Jeves, 31, of Burnaby, 28-year-old Vancouver resident Francisco Jose Fernandez Maiza and 37-year-old Emmanuel Winston Lomeda of West Vancouver face a slew of trafficking and possession charges. All three have been released from custody pending their court dates.


A B.C.-wide warrant has been issued for the arrest of Ian Edgar Small, the alleged fourth member of the group. He faces six counts of cocaine trafficking.


Lomeda is also charged with possessing money obtained by a criminal offence. Murphy said police located "most" of the cash in Lomeda's possession, as well as the Porsche and the Glock.


"He [Lomeda] was the alleged highest-placed person," Murphy said. "But certainly he has a master he has to bow to."


Public records indicate Lomeda, who also goes by the name Winston Lomeda and alternately lists his profession as promoter and manager, owns a 2001 BMW X5, a 2004 Acura RSX and a 2001 Porsche Carrera 4. He is also co-owner of a home on Inglewood Avenue in West Vancouver assessed at $635,000 and a co-owner of a $660,000 property on Stephens Street in Vancouver.


Lomeda is also listed as the director of a company called Soundscape Productions Incorporated. Lomeda lists the company's address in the 3400-block of McIntyre Drive as his own in property records.


Murphy said the drugs police seized were most likely bound for street-level dealers across the Lower Mainland.


While Burnaby RCMP routinely arrest street dealers, investigations like E-Peat that target groups allegedly supplying those low-level venders can be more effective at stemming the drug flow, he said.


"Our philosophy is to try and hit them in the middle," Murphy said.


But the greater the impact of the investigation, the more difficult it becomes, Murphy said. While he declined to go into specifics, Murphy said E-Peat involved as many as 20 officers and was a lengthy process</DIV>