Maple Ridge man faces charges after huge seizure of drugs, guns

A 34-year-old Maple Ridge man has been charged with nine weapons offences after a five-month investigation by RCMP that yielded the detachment’s largest seizure of drugs, weapons and cash.

Christopher Leigh Harmes was arrested after a July 15 police raid on two residences in Maple Ridge and Mission.

The RCMP used a pair of search warrants and seized more than $100,000 in cash, 3.5 kilograms of what appeared to be fentanyl, 2.2 kg of what appeared to be methamphetamines, 1.6 kg of what appeared to be ketamine, 659 grams of what appeared to be cocaine/ crack, and 844 pills of what appeared to be codeine/morphine.

“To put this in perspective to the sheer volume of drugs that were seized, this is the equivalent of one potentially lethal dose per person for an entire Vancouver Canucks sold-out home game crowd — four times over,” Ridge Meadows RCMP Insp. Aaron Paradis said in a statement.

“No community should have this amount of drugs on their streets.”

Weapons seized included a 9mm semi-automatic pistol and a 9mm fully automatic submachine-gun, along with a makeshift silencer, body armour, several boxes of ammunition and assorted gun parts.

Eleven drug-related charges are pending against Harmes, who police say had been convicted for drug-trafficking offences in 2010, 2012 and 2015.

Harmes is scheduled to appear in Port Coquitlam provincial court Aug. 19.