TheColumbia Valley - Columbia Valley Pioneer

20 • The Columbia Valley Pioneer December 22, 2006
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HARLEY-DAVIDSON
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Warmest Thoughts
and Best Wishes for a
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and every Happiness
in the New Year.
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Invermere men charged
with drug smuggling
By Brian Geis
Pioneer Staff
Two Invermere men were arrested
and $5.2 million in drugs were seized in
a recent cross-border drug bust.
According to Calgary Police, 52year-old
Garry Hamilton and 51-yearold
Terry Holt of Invermere were arrested,
along with another B.C. man and
two Calgarians, on charges of conspiracy
to import marijuana to the United
States and conspiracy to export cocaine
into Canada.
The arrests were the result of a ninemonth
investigation, dubbed Project
IDEA, staffed by members of Alberta’s
Integrated Response to Organized
Crime unit, the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Agency, and U.S. Immigrations
and Customs Enforcement.
Invermere RCMP Detachment
Staff-Sergeant Doug Pack said his department
was involved only on the periphery
of the case. Inspector Joan Mc-
Callum, the officer in charge of Alberta’s
organized crime unit, said the local
RCMP performed local cooordination
and surveillance on the case.
Investigators targeted the organized
network they allege was using small airplanes
to ferry marijuana and cocaine
between Montana and Calgary.
Inspector McCallum said this network
was not typical of the kind of organized
crime that the organized crime
unit usually investigates.
“We work in the upper echelons of
organized crime,” she said. “This wasn’t
one of those Asian gangs.”
Inspector McCallum said this network
was organized and very effective,
as it was still able to operate nine
months into the investigation.
She also noted that Mr. Holt, who
was arrested in February and sentenced
to 11 years and three months in jail,
was not the key to cracking the case.
The operation was under surveillance
for months as investigators followed the
drugs, money and players as they moved
in and out of the country.
“When the drugs went down to
the states, we followed them to Utah,”
she said. “That’s when the DEA got
involved.” Vancouver resident Christopher
Carew, 26, was arrested in Utah
during part of the investigation.
When investigators discovered that
Mr. Hamilton would be flying from
Vancouver to Los Angeles in November,
she said, they decided to make their
move. With the help of U.S. Immigrations
and Customs Enforcement, Gary
Hamilton of Invermere; Graham Owen,
48, of Calgary; and Daniel Tican, 24, of
Calgary, were arrested upon arrival.
During the course of the investigation,
law enforcement officials seized
about 500 kilograms of marijuana ($4.4
million street value), 30 kilograms of
cocaine ($750,000 street value), 9,000
tablets of diazepam, a sedative marketed
as Valium, and 210 vials of ketamine, a
dissociative anaesthetic. A Smith Aerostar
601 twin-engine airplane valued at
$200,000 was also seized.
The investigation in ongoing, Inspector
McCallum said. The investigation
was limited to activities at small
airports in southern Alberta, but that
information was provided to the RCMP
in B.C. for widening the investigation.
“Our investigation is continuing,”
she said. “We’re looking for a couple
of more people. We got $5.4 million
of their money, but we know there is
more invested somewhere. There’s always
someone out there who thinks he’s
smarter than the last guy. Greed will
overcome anything and that’s all it is -
greed.”
GRAB LIFE
BY THE HORNS
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It’s Better. We’ll Prove It.
DL#26649