Vancouver – Vancouver Police have seized a cache of guns, drugs, and dangerous weapons from a Downtown Eastside rooming house, which police believe was being used to fuel a supply line of contraband throughout the neighbourhood.
“Task Force Barrage has come to an end, but our work to curb violence and disrupt organized crime in the Downtown Eastside continues,” says Sergeant Steve Addison.
“Though street crime and disorder has decreased, the proliferation of violence and weapons in some residential buildings continues to put the neighbourhood at risk.”
Officers from VPD’s Beat Enforcement Team – which works exclusively in the Downtown Eastside – initiated an investigation on November 13, after a man sustained serious injuries during an assault near Carrall Street and East Cordova. The 42-year-old victim received treatment in hospital and is recovering.
The VPD investigation led police to a rooming house at 50 East Cordova Street, where on November 18 officers discovered a stockpile of illicit drugs, guns, and weapons in three different rooms.
“There are indications that parts of this building, which is meant to provide housing to low-income Downtown Eastside residents, were being used to store weapons and traffic contraband throughout the neighbourhood,” says Sergeant Addison, adding that parts of the building had been fortified with countersurveillance measures to avoid detection from law enforcement.
Items seized include:
- Four firearms
- Two imitation guns
- Grenade launcher
- Firearm suppressor/ silencer
- Seven machetes
- Four flare guns
- Bull whips
- Baseball bats
- Body armour
- Handcuffs
- Ammunition
- 486 grams of fentanyl, cannabis, Dilaudid pills, and methamphetamine, representing more than 2,500 single doses.
Three men and one woman, aged 31 to 42, were initially taken into custody. Charges have not yet been laid, and the investigation continues.
