Hand to hand drug deal taking place/via Crimestoppers
Kamloops Mounties are reporting a significant drug bust which took place earlier this week in Valleyview.
RCMP say they raided a motel room along the East Trans Canada, after tracking someone to that location who was allegedly trying to bolt from the Mounties in a vehicle.
“On Sunday March 23, 2025 just before 7 a.m., Kamloops RCMP Detachment frontline officers were at a motel on the 2400-block of the Trans Canada Highway East, as part of an investigation into flight from police, dangerous driving, and prohibited driving offences,” said the RCMP in a release.
“While arresting a suspect, officers observed items consistent with drug trafficking inside the motel room, which led to them arresting another individual present and obtaining a search warrant,” added Corporal Crystal Evelyn, Kamloops RCMP Detachment spokesperson.
The Mounties say the search warrant led them to a sizeable amount of drugs.
“A handgun, firearm magazines, cash, and suspected methamphetamine, fentanyl, and crack cocaine were seized as part of the ongoing investigation,” said the RCMP.
While that person was detained, the Mounties have been forced to let them go due to “Jordan.”
Supreme Court of Canada building in Ottawa/via Canadian Lawyer publication
R. v. Jordan is Supreme Court of Canada ruling dating back to 2016, which held that an alleged drug dealer wasn’t put to trial quickly enough as the Crown waited for all the evidence to come back, including scientific analysis of the alleged drugs in question.
As a result, all the charges against the person were stayed and a new benchmark for the Crown to bring charges to trial — in most cases — within 18 to 30 months of someone being processed on trafficking allegations.
Not wanting the cases to be tossed before they can make it to court, the Mounties now hold off on processing suspected drug dealers until such time as they can get their tests back on the drugs themselves, which is also required to ensure the drugs being sold were, in fact, illegal.
That testing can sometimes take months to process, depending on the amount seized and the backlog of testing that needs to be done at any given time in BC and across the country.
Kamloops RCMP do describe the suspect caught with the suspected drug paraphernalia as a “multi-jurisdictional offender.”
While that person walked away without charges — for the time being at least — the original person caught trying to allegedly run from the police was processed, and is expected to face charges related to dangerous driving and trying to evade arrest.
