Pubdate: Fri, 26 Jul 2002
Source: Halifax Herald (CN NS)
Copyright: 2002 The Halifax Herald Limited
Contact:  http://www.herald.ns.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/180
Authors: Patricia Brooks, Randy Jones, Crime Reporters
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?188 (Outlaw Bikers)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

SWEEPING BUSTS MAKE 'SIGNIFICANT DENT' IN DRUG TRADE

Police Arrest 28, Seeking 50 More

They're calling it their largest drug sweep ever - and this time they used 
money seized in past crimes to lure suspected dealers.

Halifax Regional Police had arrested 28 people by 5 p.m. Thursday and 
expected to arrest about 50 more in a sweep of wholesale drug dealers in 
metro Halifax.

Those arrested range in age from 14 to 65. Police allege the majority take 
drugs from suppliers, cut the product and distribute it to street-level 
dealers.

Half of the $200,000 that undercover cops spent to make their drug buys and 
cover other unspecified operative costs came from liquidated assets or cash 
seized from convicted crooks.

This is the first time the regional force has used proceeds-of-crime money 
to help fund an investigation.

Arraigned In Court

"We're not naive enough to think that we've eliminated the drug trade but 
we have made a significant dent in the distribution trade," Supt. Chris 
McNeil said at a news conference Thursday afternoon.

"It's our deepest infiltration yet into the whole drug distribution system 
and it should be a message that we will go deeper."

The arrests began Wednesday night, as officers stopped two vehicles, 
arresting nine people. One of the vehicles contained crack cocaine with an 
estimated street value of $50,000.

Fifteen residences and three businesses, mainly in the Spryfield area, were 
hit by 70 police officers Thursday as part of Operation Mid-way.

Two raids were still underway Thursday afternoon.

Officials said they seized at least $300,000 in cocaine, crack, hash, 
marijuana and ecstasy. They've counted about $100,000 in cash, as well as 
vehicles, weapons and equipment.

Officials did not have exact details about the haul because it is still 
being catalogued.

"There's no questions that this is linked to higher levels of organized 
crime. It's somewhat a given that the drug trade is controlled by organized 
crime," Supt. McNeil said.

"Motorcycle gangs . . . are one of the most significant organized crime 
entities and could be behind supplying some of these drugs."

All people involved are connected somehow, whether through family 
connections or as neighbours and friends, police say.

In talking to area residents where Thursday's raids occurred, the possible 
connections to organized crime started to appear.

The owner of the property at 390 Herring Cove Rd., site of the Sprytown 
Fast Cash pawnshop, is Deborah Lynn Melvin.

Ms. Melvin once lived at the same Philip Drive address in Fall River as 
James Melvin.

Mr. Melvin was arrested in December in a sweeping raid targeting the Nova 
Scotia chapter of the Hells Angels. He was charged with trafficking hashish 
in Halifax on Feb. 9 and March 29.

In late 1992, a ship laden with $20 million in cocaine sank off 
Newfoundland after a high-seas pursuit by the U.S. Coast Guard.

James Melvin spent two days looking for a vessel to get to the mother ship, 
not knowing the cargo was lost.

He was sentenced in 1997 to five years in prison for conspiring to traffic 
cocaine.

Mr. Melvin also received eight years in prison in 1994 after police seized 
3.5 tonnes of hashish from a dump truck near Chester in 1991.

Outside the raided pawnshop Thursday afternoon, one customer looking to 
reclaim his 310 Yamaha guitar was upset the business was closed.

Told of the drug raids, he said: "Every third building has that going on 
out here. You know what I mean, man?"

The building adjacent to Sprytown Fast Cash - P.G.'s Pizzeria, partly owned 
by Theodore C. Bremner - was also raided.

Brian James Bremner, also known as B.J. Marriott, used to work at the pizzeria.

He is now charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Parker 
Vaughan (Dinky) Sparks, 26, outside a Clayton Park bar.

After he was arrested May 2 outside a Woodcrest Avenue apartment, drug 
section officers searched the apartment and found $180,000 worth of 
marijuana, growing equipment, two handguns, ammunition and $9,000 in cash.

He and three others were charged with drug, weapons and other offences.

Jason Terrance Dorey, 24, of Halifax, a good friend of Mr. Bremner's, is 
also charged in the murder.

National Parole Board documents said at the time that Mr. Dorey is part of 
a group called the Spryfield mob.

Some officers have privately questioned whether such a group exists.

Mr. Bremner once lived on Guildwood Drive, off Leiblin Drive, in Spryfield.

Undercover officers raided his former home there Thursday shortly after noon.

The officers took plastic bags filled with leafy plants out of the 
residence, a neighbour said, not wanting to give a name.

"We're not on the best of terms and I'm afraid of them. B.J. used to live 
over there and that's enough, right?"

Dawn Bremner, a relative of B.J.'s, lives there and was arrested.

On Bridget Avenue in Spryfield, neighbours watched as police raided a 
mobile home near the intersection with Sylvia Avenue.

"It is a drug place," an area resident said. "But we've . . . lived here 15 
years and we've had no trouble."

Brief stop-and-go trips into the residence have been frequent over the 
years, she said.

"It doesn't bother me at all. . . . We're so used to it."

An elderly woman, who was among those arrested, and a couple live in the 
Bridget Avenue trailer.

Police expect the arrests to continue through the weekend.
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