Drug case has small B.C. town buzzing with rumour
Three residents believed to be jailed in Australia after cocaine bust at sea
The south Okanagan village of Keremeos, B.C. is abuzz with reports that a trio of well-known locals, including a former top municipal employee, are languishing in a South Pacific prison after a high seas raid on an unregistered sailboat netted a record-setting cocaine seizure.
The March 31 arrest of three Canadians off the coast of New Caledonia was trumpeted in an Australian government news release that said: “Australian, New Caledonian and United States authorities have disrupted an international cocaine syndicate attempting to import an estimated 200 kilograms of cocaine into Australia from South America.”
Australian Federal Police (AFP) alleged cocaine valued at about $70 million was netted after a tipoff from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Reportedly, authorities had been tracking the “erratic” voyage of a vessel called the Megalodon for weeks.
Kevin Zuccato, AFP’s national manager for serious and organized crime, called it a significant seizure. The investigation continues internationally, the AFP said in early April.
But two months later, officials from New Caledonia have gone silent, ignoring requests from the Vancouver Province for an official statement on charges and information on what legal process and jail conditions the Canadians face. According to a recent report in the Keremeos Review, the unidentified Canadians could face life sentences, but New Caledonia prosecutor Claire Lanet would only say they face “numerous charges” related to possession and trafficking of drugs.
The 200 kg of cocaine is the largest amount of the drug ever seized by New Caledonia authorities.
Canada, along with every other nation involved in the bust, is deferring to New Caledonian authorities and refusing to comment.
The Province has learned the jailed Canadians are 55-year-old Robert Stanley, a former Keremeos public works foreman, his wife, Cindy Lou Stanley, 55, and 48-year-old Gary Yuzik, former owner of RE/MAX Keremeos Realty.
As far as the Province has been able to establish, none of them has yet been charged with any crime.
A source said Cindy Stanley was employed by Yuzik, and Yuzik “ran a profitable business into the ground” after buying RE/MAX Keremeos Realty from Penticton realtor Bill Barkhausen in 2007.
Barkhausen said he has heard about the arrest of Yuzik and the Stanleys.
“Gary did close the office and opened another real estate office in Okanagan Falls, which was also closed,” Barkhausen wrote in an email. “I haven’t seen Bob and Cindy for about three years.”
A number of Keremeos officials, including four municipal councillors and Mayor Manfred Bauer, were asked by the Province whether the municipality is reviewing the dealings of Bob Stanley, who is believed to have retired in 2010, in light of the allegations he faces now.
The councillors said they are not allowed to comment on the case, and all deferred to Bauer.
“When he was working here, there was no indication of any such business, and no complaints, and that is all I can say at the moment,” Bauer said. “I think this is at a very early stage. I don’t really know the details, and I don’t even know if they are charged.”
Rumours and innuendo about the bust — including speculation about a Lower Mainland politician with past ties to the jailed prisoners — have taken the coffee shops and restaurants of Keremeos by storm in the past few weeks. Sources say a distraught daughter has been showing a worrying letter from Cindy Stanley.
On May 3, Cindy Stanley’s daughter, Tamara Marsel of Keremeos, left this post on her Facebook page: “Tonight I have just heard confirmation that my parents are alive! I am so happy to hear that they are safe, now just waiting to get them home … Thank you Lord for answering my prayers.”
Property records registered in May 2011 show Robert and Cindy Stanley of Keremeos took a loan from HSBC Bank Canada on a 2005 Hunter 33 yacht, a model worth about $100,000, according to aftermarket websites. Court records show HSBC Bank Canada entered a B.C. Supreme Court civil foreclosure case against Robert and Cindy Lou Stanley on March 30, 2012.
A source said the Stanleys were believed to be sailing the boat in the Caribbean, and it’s not known whether the boat impounded in the South Pacific is a Hunter 33.
Federal RCMP spokesman Sgt. Duncan Pound said the force is liaising with Australian police on the case. “It’s safe to say, any time you are dealing with tens or hundreds of kilos of cocaine, chances are organized crime is involved,” Pound said.