Surrey RCMP’s vow to crackdown on the drug trafficking in north Surrey’s infamous “strip,” the two blocks of 135A Street between 106th and 108th Avenues, is proving to be quite fruitful.
The Surrey branch announced early Wednesday morning that two separate raids in the last month resulted in the seizure of 4,240 doses of suspected heroin/fentanyl, 521 doses of methamphetamine, 410 doses of crack cocaine and about $16,000 in cash. The raids were the result of an ongoing drug investigation first launched this past November as a result of the high number of overdose-related deaths.
The seizure also included the arrest of three Surrey residents, including 54-year-old Lee Roy Braaten, charged with three counts of possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking, 47-year-old Wanda Stopa, charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance for the purposes of trafficking and one count of failing to comply with a recognizance, and a 30-year-old man, whose name has not been released.
“The 135A Street area and the people that frequent that area have been significantly impacted by the ongoing fentanyl health crisis,” said Proactive Enforcement Officer Shawna Baher in a release. “These drug seizures, arrests and charges were the result of the coordinated efforts of the Surrey RCMP Drug Section, our Crime Reduction Unit and the Surrey Outreach Team. This investigation will have a significant impact on illegal drug activity in this area and has no doubt saved lives.”
914 people across the province lost their lives last year in the ongoing fentanyl crisis, which was an increase of nearly 80 per cent compared to 2015. Surrey was hit especially hard by the crisis losing the second highest number of people out of all the cities in the province. The 108 deaths in Surrey was up 42 per cent compared to 2015. Vancouver saw the most deaths in 2016 as a result of fentanyl – 215.