From: BCLocalNews.com (Canada)
By Martin van den Hemel – Richmond Review
More than 18 months after making the first of three major seizures in Richmond, police announced Tuesday that they’d derailed a suspected Asian organized crime ring and arrested eight people.
The arrests are linked to the seizures of two massive shipments of counterfeit cigarettes in April and October of last year, along with thousands of kilos of a liquid chemical precursor for the manufacture of ecstasy.
The investigation began in 2009 after Canada Border Services Agency intercepted a sea container at the Port of Vancouver which contained unstamped counterfeit cigarettes earmarked for Toronto.
After informing the RCMP, the two agencies partnered on the investigation and sought to identify organizations and individuals responsible for the shipments, and locating additional containers destined for Canada.
In total, 11 sea containers were seized, seven in Vancouver, four more in Toronto.
They were found to contain 583,600 cartons of cigarettes and 6,270 kilograms of ecstasy precursor, P2P.
Late last month, police simultaneously executed search warrants and made arrests in B.C. and Ontario.
Arrested were:
• Ze Hua Liao, 43, of Niagara Falls, Ont.—charged with 23 counts of making a false statement, 23 counts of smuggling goods, two counts of unlawfully importing a controlled substance, and twelve conspiracy-related tobacco charges.
• Qiang Zhou, 34, of Markham, Ont.—charged with three conspiracy-related tobacco charges
• Hui Shen, 44, of Mississauga, Ont.—charged with two counts of making a false statement and two counts of smuggling
• Wei Shen, 43, of Niagara Falls, Ont.—two conspiracy-related charges
• Genlian Liu, 40, a Chinese national from Kettleby, Ont.—charged with three tobacco-related charges under the Excise Act
• Minh Boo Lam, 51, of Maple, Ont.—charged with three tobacco-related charges under the Excise Act
• Chi Wai Chan, 46, of Burnaby, B.C.—charged with conspiracy to import a controlled substance and three tobacco-related charges under the Excise Act
Arrest warrants have also been issued for:
• Zhi Xiong Huang, 32, a Chinese national from Vancouver, B.C.—wanted for conspiracy to import a controlled substance and six tobacco-related charges under the Excise Act
• Shuting (Charlize) Lin, 36, of Vancouver, B.C.—wanted for conspiracy to import a controlled substance and nine tobacco-related charges under the Customs Act
In April of 2010, Mounties seized 50,000 cartons of cigarettes worth $3.4 million in a shipment headed for Richmond. Six Lower Mainland men were arrested in connection with the shipment of what was supposed to have been a household sink shipment.
In October of 2010, another 10 millions cigarettes were seized, making it the largest bust of its kind in B.C. history.
Also in October of 2010, thousands of kilos of the ecstasy precursor P2P were seized from a detached garage at Fraserwinds, a two-acre farmland estate at 13451 Gilbert Rd., directly across the street from the Lulu Island Wastewater Treatment Plant.
“The excellent outcome of this investigation clearly demonstrates that the CBSA takes its border protection responsibilities very seriously,” said Canada Border Services’ Goran Vragovic, regional director general of the Greater Toronto Area Region.
