Nineteen people were arrested after the Vernon North Okanagan RCMP executed search warrants on four separate properties in a drug trafficking investigation Thursday, Dec. 2.
The four properties are all located in the 3000 block of 24th Avenue, which has been troubled by crimes including open drug use and shootings in recent years.
Of the 19 people arrested, six remain in custody and one was found to have an outstanding warrant for their arrest, media relations officer Const. Chris Terleski said in front of one of the raided properties Thursday afternoon.
The raids yielded undisclosed amounts of fentanyl and methamphetamine, cash, weapons, firearms and other items consistent with an illicit drug trafficking operation, Terleski said.
“They are all involved in street level drug trafficking,” Terleski said of the arrested individuals. He added there were no signs that any of the properties were drug labs.
It’s unknown whether the four properties were connected to one another as part of the same drug trafficking operation, and police couldn’t say whether the operation was gang-related.
“The search warrants came as a direct result of our ongoing efforts to target and disrupt drug trafficking and other criminal activity in our community,” said Terleski. “The Vernon North Okanagan RCMP will continue to take aggressive action in an effort to reduce the supply of deadly illicit drugs being trafficked in our community.”
The case remains under investigation, and the RCMP will send its findings to the BC Prosecution Service once the investigation has concluded.
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