By Jill Sperling

Violence relating to Kamloops drug trade is on the rise: RCMP

Aug 29, 2018 | 2:51 PM

KAMLOOPS —The illicit drug trade is not a new problem in Kamloops, but a pattern of increased violence has begun to emerge from this illegal industry. 

“The prevalence and use of violence in relation to the drug trade is on the rise,” said Sgt. Jennifer Johnston of the Kamloops RCMP. “Kamloops in particular seems to have a real underlying violent side to their drug trade and drug enforcement that maybe hasn’t been there in the past, but has become prevalent not just in Kamloops, but in other communities as well.” 

Johnston is in charge of the Kamloops RCMP’s targeted enforcement unit, which targets drugs and organized crime. She says new and well-established dealers are resorting to violence to further their drug business and expand their territory. 

“It’s definitely not limited to turf wars,” Johnston said. “Obviously drug dealers want as many sales as they can, so there is an element of that, but there’s also drug debts, there’s losing drugs, there’s payments that need to be made within the drug trade, and some of the violence that we’ve seen in the recent past is all related to those things.” 

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Johnston says RCMP enforcement efforts have minimized the presence of high-profile gangs like the Wolfpack and Red Scorpions in Kamloops, but other criminal organizations have moved in to fill the gaps. 

“Right now we’re seeing some local people, and they are organized – they have the contacts to import this stuff, to get it into Kamloops, and then also the network to be able to distribute it down to the buyers,” Johnston said. 

The violence relating to the drug trade is unpredictable and it’s important that the general public remain aware of what’s happening in the community. 

“There’s no general risk to the community, I’ll make that very clear,” Johnston said, “but when you are dealing with kind of the underbelly of society and that drug trade you always have to be aware of what’s going on around you. We’re always willing to take any information or tips or anything like that so that we can pursue investigations on these drug dealers and organized crime figures.”