Mounties say drug line connected to Brothers Keepers gang dismantled
Mounties in the Fraser Valley say they have shut down a significant local drug line linked to the Brothers Keepers gang.
Chilliwack RCMP’s crime reduction unit began its investigation into the dial-a-dope line earlier this year, quickly learning the traffickers were allegedly operating in several jurisdictions.
In September, Chilliwack Mounties, with support from the Vancouver Police Department’s organized crime unit, executed a search warrant in the 5600-block of Boundary Road in Vancouver.
“Included in the articles seized by police during their search were items associating suspects and locations from other Lower Mainland communities to the alleged drug trafficking organization,” RCMP Cpl. Mike Rail said in a news release.
He said “officers continued to pursue their investigation — targeting dial-a-dope suspects — leading to the arrest of two people on Oct. 23, 2019 during a police traffic stop in Chilliwack.”
“Officers seized drugs believed to be fentanyl and crack cocaine while gathering further evidence to link the Lower Mainland locations to their investigation.”
Police executed more search warrants on Oct. 25 — one in the 1500-block of Hornby Street in
Vancouver, one at a Burnaby residence in the 1000-block of Augusta Avenue, and two in Surrey in the 7700-block 123A Street and the 15000-block 29A Avenue.
“Drugs believed to be fentanyl, cash, cellphones, paraphernalia consistent with drug trafficking, and clothing linking the Brothers Keepers crime group to the illegal operation were seized,” Rail said.
Two people arrested during the execution of the search warrants were later released as the investigation continues.
“Following a thorough examination of evidence gathered, all circumstances of the investigation will be forwarded in a report by the RCMP to the Public Prosecution Service of Canada for their assessment,” Rail said.
The Brothers Keepers gang was started on the Lower Mainland about four years ago by the late Gavinder Grewal, who took the name from a line uttered by Wesley Snipes’ character in the 1991 movie New Jack City.
Grewal got the new gang name tattooed across his upper chest in stylized script, as did other original members of the gang.
Grewal was shot to death in his leased North Vancouver highrise condo in December 2017 while out on bail on a manslaughter charge. No one has been charged in Grewal’s slaying, or in the murders of several of his gang mates that have been caught in a violent conflict with former associates after the gang splintered.
The Brothers Keepers are aligned with the Hardside chapter of the Hells Angels.
Upper Fraser Valley RCMP Supt. Bryon Massie said his officers conducted “a complex multi-jurisdictional investigation ... across several communities around the Lower Mainland.”
“The removal of potentially lethal drugs from the streets of Chilliwack and other Lower Mainland communities will make a difference with a direct impact to this criminal enterprise,” he said.