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Victoria Police undercover unit busts seven members of Red Scorpion Gang

Canadian Press Article online since August 18th 2008, 23:00
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VICTORIA - Police say an undercover sting operation called Project Mongoose broke a notorious Vancouver gang's attempts to set up a crack-cocaine business in Victoria where users call their dealers for drug deliveries.
The so-called dial-a-dope operation, similar to illegal drug dealing operations in Vancouver, was cracked when Victoria police arrested seven people after undercover officers purchased crack-cocaine on more than a dozen occasions.
Police said Tuesday the seven people arrested are members or known associates of the notorious Red Scorpions, a Vancouver-based drug gang known for its no-mercy reputation.
Police seized loaded weapons, cash and about $1,000 worth of cocaine after executing a search warrant at a home in suburban Saanich.
Three people were also arrested after the Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team stopped a car at a major city intersection.
"The Red Scorpion gang is a multi-jurisdictional criminal organization of crack-cocaine dealers," said Sgt. Grant Hamilton.
"The street level dealers are given crack cocaine to sell by the Red Scorpion managers in their various jurisdictions."
Hamilton said the dealers worked in shifts and were given one phone to receive calls from prospective drug buyers.
The dealers were aggressively trying to break into the Victoria street market, at times providing free crack cocaine along with their telephone number to users, Hamilton added.
Const. Colin Brown said undercover police officers began a surveillance operation and bought drugs from the Red Scorpions.
He said he believed Project Mongoose has deterred the gang from coming to Victoria.
"Our goal was to disrupt and dismantle the groups here in Victoria," said Brown. "We don't take groups trying to establish themselves here lightly."
Brown refused to comment on a downtown Victoria shooting last July that left one man dead and two wounded.
But he said the gang has a reputation for "unsolved homicides and violence in the Lower Mainland."
The Red Scorpions were allegedly formed eight years ago at a Vancouver-area young offenders' facility where a group of incarcerated youths decided to form a gang to work in the illegal drug trade.
Police say the gang is a multi-ethnic group that believes race is secondary to loyalty and respect. Investigators say members cultivate a reputation of showing no mercy to their enemies.
Red Scorpion members are known for wearing a distinctive RS-initialled tattoo on their wrist, neck or shoulders.
Victoria police have always tried to downplay the presence of gang activity in the Vancouver Island city.
Vancouver has been in the midst of open, deadly gang wars for the last year, and in northern British Columbia, drug gangs in Prince George have been involved in shootouts downtown.
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Russell Barth

Comment online since August 20th 2008
To The Editor, RE: Victoria Police undercover unit busts seven members of Red Scorpion Gang

Who is most pleased by this bust? The Red Scorpion Gang's competitors.

Russell Barth
Federally Licensed Medical Marijuana User
Patients Against Ignorance and Discrimination on Cannabis
(PAIDOC)www.paidoc.org
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCdNX_k7

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