Maple Batalia’s sister Rose told reporters Monday that the young woman can now rest in peace after her former boyfriend was sentenced to life in prison for gunning her down in 2011.

Rose Batalia choked back tears on the steps of the New Westminster Supreme Courthouse as she spoke.

A short time earlier, Gurjinder (Gary) Dhaliwal was told he must serve a minimum of 21 years before being eligible for parole.

Maple Batalia, 19, was shot to death on Sept. 28, 2011 in the parking lot of Simon Fraser’s Surrey campus. The Health Sciences student, actor and model, had been studying with friends and was headed home about 1 a.m. Maple was rushed to hospital where she later died.

Dhaliwal, now 24, and his friend Gursimar Bedi were arrested and charged a year later.

Dhaliwal pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last week. Bedi’s trial on charges of manslaughter and accessory after the fact is set to begin Tuesday.

Sgt. Stephanie Ashton, of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said Monday that “IHIT investigators, in conjunction with Crown Counsel, worked tirelessly to secure all of the evidence relevant to this tragic case.  A guilty plea, in any homicide investigation, speaks to the efforts and dedication by all agencies involved.

I was not covering this case today, but PostMedia reporter Jennifer Saltman was in court.

Here’s her story:

RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson responds to issues of harassment in the ranks, resources for terrorism and ongoing gang violence in Surrey.

Surrey Mounties showed off a drug haul worth more than $4.5 million Friday as they revealed that shootings are on the rise again this year.

Since Jan. 1, there have been 28 confirmed incidents of shots fired, with five people being injured and one killed so far.

The shootings spiked in March, Supt. Manny Mann told reporters at a news conference.

“Over the last few weeks the Surrey RCMP has seen an increase in shots fired calls, which is understandably causing concern for both the public and the police,” he said.

“I can tell you that a majority of these incidents are targeted, which leads us to believe there is not a significant threat to public safety.”

Mann said the suspects linked to the recent violence are not associated to the warring drug gangs involved in the 2015 conflict. In fact, the vacuum left by arrests last year has resulted in new players getting involved in the street level drug trade, he said.

“After making over 800 arrests and detentions last year, we disrupted those who were involved in the drug conflicts last year,” he said. “The investigations into the recent shootings are progressing well. We are making headway thanks to the cooperation of the public and the intelligence gleaned through our enforcement efforts.”

Heroin seized by Surrey Mounties and displayed Friday as part of a drug haul worth $4.5 million.

Nine incidents involved shots being fired into a residence or building. In two cases, police found a shell casing though there were no reports of shots fired. 

Most of the gunplay has happened between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Three people believed to be involved in the shootings are facing charges, Mann said.

Meanwhile a Surrey RCMP drug investigation has resulted in one of the biggest seizures ever in the city of heroin, cocaine, fentanyl, crystal meth and fake OxyContin. 

RCMP Supt. Shawn Gill stood in front of part of the haul, which he said is worth over $4.5 million at the wholesale level.

He said the drugs were found when investigators stopped a vehicle driven by Abbotsford resident Pardip Hayer, 30, in Newton on March 16. 

He’s now facing four counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Gill said the massive quantity of drugs seized suggests a link to organized crime, though no group has yet been identified. He said the investigation is continuing and more arrests are expected.

“We are attacking this situation now and we are attacking it aggressively,” Gill said. “With the intelligence we are receiving, our proactive enforcement teams are making it very difficult for these people to conduct their illegal business in our city.”

Presses used to imprint drugs were displayed Friday by Surrey RCMP.

The seizure should save lives, given the volume of fentanyl that was taken off the streets, Gill said.

“The seizure of this amount of drugs will have an impact on those fighting over it,” he said.

Gill said “the drug trade is constantly changing.”

“The individuals change and the drugs change, but the problem remains the same — young people are being lured into this criminal lifestyle with illusions of money and power, but the reality is much different.” 

The related violence is an issue “that goes beyond police,” he said.

“It involves the entire community. It involves parents, schools, prevention programs and community involvement. For our part, we are working day and night to suppress both the violence and drug trafficking in Surrey.”

kbolan@vancouversun.com

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B.C. and federal prosecutors are appealing a ruling to stay the charges against an accused cocaine dealer over a failure to disclose details of intelligence provided by a police informer.

Cameron McKay was charged in 2013 with possession for the purpose of trafficking after Victoria police seized a kilogram of cocaine and drug paraphernalia from his Esquimalt home.

At his trial last year, McKay challenged whether police had sufficient grounds to get a search warrant for his residence.

His lawyer “sought disclosure of intelligence provided by two police informers in the form of source handler notes and source debriefing reports,” B.C. Court of Appeal Justice Sunni Stromberg-Stein said in her ruling.

“The Crown disclosed a single source debriefing report, but asserted that the remaining source debriefing reports and source handler notes were not relevant and were protected by informer privilege.”

The trial judge ordered more disclosure, but the federal prosecutor refused, leading to the charge against McKay being stayed or dropped.

The federal Crown filed an appeal, which is expected to be heard in June.

“The issue raised in the appeal is whether and in what circumstances an accused person is entitled to access raw intelligence provided by police informers,” Stromberg-Stein noted.

The B.C. attorney general went to court to get intervener status, since the issue of informer privilege has arisen in several major gang prosecutions, including the Surrey Six murder case.

In a ruling released Monday, Stromberg-Stein granted B.C. prosecutors status in the appeal.

    “The Attorney General says that it has prosecuted a number of ‘mega-cases’ involving murders and murder conspiracies arising out of rivalries between criminal gangs. A significant issue in these cases has been the disclosure of information relating to confidential informers,” Stromberg-Stein said.

“The Attorney General’s argument will go further than that of the federal crown. It will argue that all information provided by a confidential informer in whatever form is presumptively privileged and must not be disclosed absent a finding of innocence at stake. It will argue that attempting to edit a privileged document involves an incalculable risk of identifying the informer.”

In B.C., federal prosecutors oversee all drug cases, while provincial Crown prosecute murder cases and other criminal code offences.

Stromberg-Stein said the B.C. government’s involvement in the appeal “will not be unfair or create an appearance of unfairness to the accused.”

“The Attorney General has a direct interest in the appeal and can provide a useful and different perspective on the issues before the court,” she said.

kbolan@postmedia.com

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read the full ruling here: 

With the Vancouver Sun’s relaunch today, there will be some changes to how the blogs appear, including The Real Scoop.

You should be able to read Real Scoop posts at this link: vancouversun.com/tag/real-scoop

And all the posts written since the Real Scoop began in 2008 should still be visible to readers.

Temporarily, in order to comment you will have to have a Facebook account, even if it’s an anonymous one.

I have been told that comments will be switched back to the current WordPress system you have been using, meaning you won’t need to register. But I don’t know how long that is going to take.

So please be patient with us as we implement these changes.

If you have any questions, you can email me at: kbolan@postmedia.com or call me: 604-219-5740

As Opposition MLAs grilled B.C. Public Safety Minister Mike Morris in question period Monday about escalating gun violence, Surrey RCMP was responding to the 31^st shooting of 2016.

And Burnaby RCMP announced that homicide investigators were being called in after the body of a shooting victim was discovered on Byrne Creek Trail.

Surrey MLA Bruce Ralston said police are not doing enough to tackle the violence, which is linked to Metro Vancouver’s drug trade.

“They are not solving these cases. The violence is accelerating,” Ralston said in an interview. “That’s what people are really worried about. It’s not just a low-level background noise. It is a major ongoing threat to public safety in neighbourhoods in Surrey and in Burnaby, for that matter.”

Since senior Surrey Mounties told reporters Friday that they had implemented successful strategies to combat the violence, there have been three more incidents of public gunplay.

The latest came just before 2 p.m. Monday near 86th Avenue and 140th Street.

Cpl. Scotty Schumann said officers responded to 911 calls and found “evidence of shots being fired in the area and a male suffering from a gunshot wound.”

“The male was taken to local hospital with what is believed to be non-life threatening injuries,” Schmumann said. “Initial indications are that this is a targeted incident.”

The Monday shooting follows two others over the weekend, one of which left a man with serious injuries.

There were 60 shootings in Surrey in all of 2015.

Meanwhile the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team was called to the 7300-block of Sandborne Avenue in Burnaby after a body was found Monday.

Burnaby RCMP said officers responded to the area about 8 p.m. Sunday after reports of shots fired.

“When members arrived on scene they began a search of the area including the Byrne Creek Trail that continued until the following morning. Police confirm a body has now been located,” Sgt. Derek Thibodeau said.

“We do not believe this incident is connected to any other ongoing Burnaby RCMP investigation.”

Ralston said the RCMP should be asked hard questions about their tactics in investigating the shootings and murders.

“Have they drawn on any of the national resources? Have they asked for alternate investigative techniques? Have they conducted a management review or an internal audit of the work on these particular investigations?” he said. “These are tough questions that need to be asked and they can’t just blow them off.”

He said it’s lucky there haven’t been more murders given the number of shootings.

“The potential for all kinds of people to be caught in the cross fire … it is just very, very worrisome and disturbing.”

kbolan@postmedia.com

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In the B.C. legislature Monday, Surrey NDP MLAs Harry Bains and Sue Hammel grilled Public Safety Minister Mike Morris about the on-going gun violence in Surrey. Morris said police know who the suspects are and are doing everything they can to curb the violence.

For my overnight story, I interviewed Bruce Ralston, another Surrey NDP MLA. He said police need to rethink their techniques because they are not working. Just repeatedly stating they’re on top of the problem is not good enough, Ralston said.

“This view of the police as some kind of priestly caste where you can’t question what they’re doing is just wrong,” Ralston said. “And they have to face pubic questioning and accountability just along with every other public official.”

 Read my full story here: 

What do you think? Are police doing enough? Could they do more? Should the B.C. government committing more resources?

Thanks for your patience on the blog front. Hopefully comments will be restored to the former system soon.

A Surrey soccer coach who thought he was travelling to the U.S. to have sex with a 12-year-old girl has been sentenced to seven years in jail.

Kuldip (Kelly) Mahal, 47, was arrested in February 2015 in Burlington, Wash., where he was expecting to meet a young girl who he believed he had enticed into having sexual contact with him.

In fact, Mahal had been sending sexually explicit messages and photos to an undercover agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

At Mahal’s sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik said: “We have so many child victims, and if we can stop abuse of real children by doing these sting operations, then it is a good use of government resources.”

Three weeks before his arrest, Mahal had responded to a Vancouver Craigslist ad titled: “Crazy and very young, looking to explore myself.”

Mahal, who had coached with the Surrey United Soccer Club for 11 years, sent messages to the purported child even after she told him she was 12. 

Mahal pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Tuesday to travelling with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor.

According to court documents, the ad to which Mahal responded was in the “casual encounters” section of Craigslist. It said: “I’m a bit young and I want to learn some new things. I have never experienced the things I want to. I am real and live in Burlington, Wash. I like to go to outlet stores at Tulalip!!”

On Feb. 3, 2015, Mahal crossed the border at Blaine to meet the girl. He brought dildos, lubricant, condoms and printouts of local hotel information, the plea deal states.

Instead of his imagined encounter, he was arrested and has been held in custody since.

U.S. Attorney Annette Hayes said even though Mahal had “the knowledge that another man had been arrested in a similar Internet enticement case, this defendant persisted in seeking sex with a 12-year-old child.”

“This case should send a clear message to those trolling the Internet to victimize children: You will be caught and pay with your freedom for such crimes,” she said.

Mahal was employed as a facilities manager for a Vancouver tech firm. He was a volunteer coach for a U-16 soccer team in B.C.

Bradford Bench, special agent in charge for Homeland Securities Investigations in Seattle, said the sentence should deter others in positions of trust from abusing their power over kids.

“HSI will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to investigate these predators and ensure that they feel the full weight of the law,” Bench said.

kbolan@postmedia.com

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Even Surrey RCMP isn’t immune from recent gun violence.

A bullet hole was found in the exterior of the RCMP’s Guildford Community Police Station at 10395 148th St. early Tuesday.

 “This morning a maintenance worker located a hole in a window,” Cpl. Scotty Schumann said in a news release. “Police are currently examining the area and have found evidence coinsistent with a bullet causing the damage. The hole is about the size of a quarter.”

He said the damage does not appear recent and it is not known when this incident occurred.

“There are no witnesses or suspects at this point,” Schumann said. 

Anyone with more information is asked to contact the Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502.

There have been at least 31 shootings in Surrey so far in 2016. Seven people have been wounded and one man killed.

I realized Sunday morning that I have a disturbing addiction!

No, not drugs or alcohol.

I’m addicted to my fitness tracker.

I was in Victoria for the weekend and had mapped out a beautiful 10-kilometre route around the scenic waterfront in Fairfield and Oak Bay on Map my distance (another addiction!)

And just before I headed out the door, I checked my Jawbone tracker. There was no light, even though it supposedly had three days left on the battery. And of course, I hadn’t brought the charger with me.

I started to panic — I can’t waste a 10K run that I’m not going to get any credit for. I started thinking I could maybe run late Sunday night when I got back to Vancouver and could charge the tracker. Or maybe Monday since my running group doesn’t meet until Wednesday — that would still give me the necessary break between runs.

Then I looked out at the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the route I was supposed to begin. And I realized how ridiculous I was being. A run is a run, whether or not I have a tracker to record that run. The distance is the distance. My body is getting the same workout even if there is no entry in my phone to prove it.

And so I ran, in glorious sunshine along Dallas Road, past Ross Bay, then Gonzales Bay and through Oak Bay’s spectacular waterfront golf course.

For the rest of the day, I still felt the absence of the tracker on my left wrist. It’s been there since January 2015. I didn’t even want a tracker at first, but bought one because a neighbor wanted to pair up for more incentive. But hers broke within a couple of months, so I have been on my own ever since.

And I have become somewhat obsessed. I recently got a Garmin Vivoactive watch so I can track even more of my activities, though don’t have it set up yet (still undecided if I’ll wear two devices just in case one of them fails!)

I have read a few articles about how trackers can become an obsession. I joke with my friends who have them about running around the living room at 11:45 p.m. to get my step count for the day up. Or marching on the spot when I’m talking to people so that I’m not wasting time standing still.

I think trackers can be a great incentive to get out and move more. But where they cross over into unhealthy territory is when you become a slave to them and start changing your plans like I almost did Sunday.

It’s almost Sun Run day!

The violence continues in Surrey where the latest shooting  happened about 11 p.m. Tuesday at a deserted house in the 7700-block of 155th St. 

Surrey RCMP arrived at the scene to find one man with gunshot wounds. He was taken to hospital in stable condition.  

And in Vancouver, another man wounded in the same shooting showed up at a hospital for treatment.

Sgt. Alanna Dunlop said the second victim’s injuries were also non life-threatening.

She had no information about how he got to Vancouver.

But she said it can be an issue when those injured in gunplay make their own way to hospitals as it can impact the collection of evidence.

“We have seen this happen where they show up at the hospital in a vehicle,” she said. “The sooner we can access the evidence, the better it is for an investigation.

The house where Tuesday’s shooting occurred appears to be slated for demolition like several others on the dead-end street. There was a notice on the door saying the hydro had been disconnected. There was also broken glass and a blood stain on the driveway. 

Blood on the driveway of house in the 7700-block of 155 St. Surrey

RCMP S. Sgt. Murray Henderson said in an earlier news release that “the initial investigation has revealed that a dark coloured SUV-type vehicle was seen driving quickly away from the area shortly after the incident.”

“Officers are and will be conducting neighbourhood canvassing and speaking with witnesses to obtain further information. The investigation is still in its early stages, but initial indications are that this is a targeted incident,” he said.

 The public gunplay in Surrey continued to be the focus of Question Period in the B.C. legislature Wednesday. My colleague Rob Shaw sent me some of the exchange.

Surrey NDP MLA Sue Hammell said the daily shootings are “becoming a sad and frightening norm in Surrey.”

She noted that Solicitor General Mike Morris said earlier this week that Surrey RCMP had surveillance teams “following gang members around day and night.”

“Where were those surveillance teams that were looking over the shoulders of the gangsters last night when Surrey marked its 32nd shooting so far this year?” asked Hammell, who represents Surrey-Green Timbers.

Premier Christy Clark responded, saying her government takes the issue “extremely seriously.” 
“We need to take the time to add to the strategy on guns and gangs which we have deployed over the last several years, which has had a very real impact. But we need to do more, because the people of Surrey need to know that when their daughter or son walks home by themselves from a soccer game, that they are going to get home safe,” she said.

Premier Christy Clark promised more action on gun violence Wednesday after two men were injured in the fourth Surrey shooting in four days.

Clark was questioned in Victoria by Surrey NDP MLA Sue Hammell, who said the daily shootings are “becoming a sad and frightening norm in Surrey.”

She noted that Solicitor General Mike Morris said earlier this week that Surrey RCMP had surveillance teams “following gang members around day and night.”

“Where were those surveillance teams that were looking over the shoulders of the gangsters last night when Surrey marked its 32nd shooting so far this year?” asked Hammell, who represents Surrey-Green Timbers.

Clark responded by saying her government takes the issue “extremely seriously.” 

“We need to take the time to add to the strategy on guns and gangs, which we have deployed over the last several years, which has had a very real impact. But we need to do more, because the people of Surrey need to know that when their daughter or son walks home by themselves from a soccer game, that they are going to get home safe,” she said.

The latest shooting  happened about 11 p.m. Tuesday at a deserted house in the 7700-block of 155th St. 

Surrey RCMP arrived at the scene to find one man with gunshot wounds. He was taken to hospital in stable condition.  

Another man wounded in the same shooting showed up at a hospital in Vancouver for treatment.

Related

• Surrey RCMP investigate after bullet hole found in police station window
• More action needed to combat gun violence: Surrey MLA

Sgt. Alanna Dunlop said the second victim’s injuries were also not life-threatening.

She had no information about how he got to Vancouver.

But she said it can be an issue when those injured in gunplay make their own way to hospitals as it can impact the collection of evidence.

“We have seen this happen where they show up at the hospital in a vehicle,” she said. “The sooner we can access the evidence, the better it is for an investigation.”

The house where Tuesday’s shooting occurred appears to be slated for demolition like several others on the dead-end street. There was a notice on the door saying the hydro had been disconnected. There was also broken glass and a blood stain on the driveway. 

Blood on the driveway of house in the 7700-block of 155 St. Surrey

RCMP Staff Sgt. Murray Henderson said that “the initial investigation has revealed that a dark coloured SUV-type vehicle was seen driving quickly away from the area shortly after the incident.”

“Officers are and will be conducting neighbourhood canvassing and speaking with witnesses to obtain further information. The investigation is still in its early stages, but initial indications are that this is a targeted incident,” he said.

So far this year, nine people have been wounded in the shootings and one has been killed. Just three people have been charged in connection with one of the shootings.

kbolan@postmedia.com

rshaw@postmedia.com

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So this is it — the final Sun Run blog before April 17.

Looking back over the last three months, I have met some great people in my Hillcrest Run Stronger group. Our leaders have been really fabulous — motivating us week after week even on the most dismal and dreary of nights.

Being my second year in the training group, it’s been different for me. Last year, I was just concentrating on finishing the 10K event. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to do it at all. And then I did — not just the Sun Run, but later a triathlon sprint and a second 10K race in Las Vegas last November.

 I know now, that even as someone in my 50s, I can do these things. Not fast! Not with the greatest technique. But as long as I cross the finish line, I’m good.

Now that I know I’m capable of running a 10K, I have concerned myself more in training this year with making sure I didn’t re-aggravate some minor injuries — sore knees and an old ankle sprain that can still be painful when I pound the pavement, especially as the distances have increased in the last month.

 I’m not sure what my running future holds beyond April 17. I hope to stick with it. It’s great exercise and sometimes even fun.

But more importantly, it can keep you healthy for years longer than people who don’t run. Our group leader, Laura Zitron, told us last week that some study found people who have run end up living independently for an average of 19 years longer than people who haven’t run. Now I don’t know the name of that study so haven’t been able to track it down yet. 

You don’t have to look very far in the Google world to find other studies and articles on the benefits of running.

Surrey will get 75 new street cameras and policing resources from around the Lower Mainland to combat rampant gun violence that’s resulted in 32 shootings so far this year.

And Surrey RCMP will now be able to access another 330 traffic cameras 24 hours a day in the immediate aftermath of a shooting, Mayor Linda Hepner announced Friday.

She said the after-hours access to the traffic cameras will aid investigators in identifying suspects in the shootings.

“I, like all of you who live here in Surrey, am deeply concerned and offended by the reckless and dangerous acts that are being played out on our streets,” Hepner said.

She pledged to Surrey voters fearful of the gunplay that the young drug dealers involved “will be caught.”

“The resources that are being deployed are significant and substantial,” she said.

Hepner, B.C. Public Safety Minister Mike Morris and senior RCMP officers called a news conference to address public concerns over the violence.

There were four shootings over the last week alone in Surrey.

Surrey RCMP Asst. Com. Bill Fordy said his officers have cracked down on those believed to be involved, resulting in five arrests just this week and the seizure of 13 firearms.

Facing a series of charges are Alex Blanarou, Antonio Dennison, Rajinder Johal and Marcel Duke.

The name of the fifth suspect won’t be released until charges are approved, but Fordy said he was seen by police leaving a residence, then firing “a shot into the sky and toward a street light.”

He was later pulled over and “found to be carrying a CO2 replica handgun, crack cocaine and approximately $7500.”

Surrey RCMP Chief Supt. Bill Fordy

“A search warrant was executed at the residence and 10 firearms were seized and 1,250 rounds of ammunition,” Fordy said.

Fordy said he is “angry that we are standing here talking about the same type of senseless violence that we were discussing at this time last year.”

“I want to assure you that I understand your expectation of me and of this police force. You expect us to stop violence. You should have those expectations of us. I have those expectations of us,” he said. “I also want to assure you that we are making progress. The difficult thing is that you can’t always see our progress and it can take time.”

He said the drug trade and violence associated with it are regional problems, though Surrey has seen the most recent gun violence.

Johal, who was arrested in Surrey Thursday and is facing firearms and other charges, “is associated to a shooting that recently took place in Richmond,” he said.

Specialized policing services from around the region will be reallocated to Surrey to deal with the increased shootings, said Asst. Com. Dan Malo, the RCMP’s Lower Mainland district commander.

That includes more officers from the anti-gang Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, additional major crime investigators, intelligence analysts, air support and even extra dog teams, Malo said.

He said he wants those involved to feel the extra eyes on them so they know “that life has changed for them in the City of Surrey.”

“You’ll receive attention like you’ve never received before,” Malo said.

He stressed again that those involved are not “high-level organized crime” but “kids” battling for control of the street-level drug trade.

Morris, a former Mountie, also spoke at the news conference. He said he had full confidence in the RCMP’s strategies to end the violence.

But he also said “this is not just a police problem. It’s a community problem.”

NDP public safety critic Mike Farnworth, who attended the Surrey news conference along with other opposition MLAs, said he was disappointed with what he heard.

“There are no new resources. They are using existing resources. I was expecting something from the province,” said Farnworth, MLA for Port Coquitlam.

As for the increased access to traffic cameras by police, Farnworth said: “Why has it taken till now and why hasn’t the province always ensured that was the case?”

kbolan@postmedia.com

Langley resident Christina Stover obtained a firearms acquisition licence just last year, which entitled her to buy weapons at any gun store in Canada.

Within a matter of months, the 40-year-old former security guard had legally purchased 19 firearms.

Then, on March 11, police allege Stover, who had no prior criminal record, delivered a cache of guns to two men at their rented Surrey home on 192nd Street. All three were arrested the same day.

Ridge Meadows Supt. David Fleugel said the “investigation has resulted in police seizing a number of firearms that were being stored illegally, and may have been destined for a criminal element in a number of communities.”

Police seized nine firearms, including handguns, rifles and shotguns, he said.

Sources confirm that several firearms bought by Stover since last year have not been located. The investigation continues.

Police see a disturbing shift in where B.C. criminals are getting their guns.

B.C. gangsters used to get most of their guns from sources in the U.S. who smuggled them across the border. They now obtain most of their illicit firearms within Canada, either by stealing them from legal owners or using straw purchasers who have licences to buy them.

According to the most recent data available from the RCMP’s National Weapons Enforcement Support Team, 61 per cent of crime guns in the province were domestically sourced.

“And the balance, about 39 per cent, were believed to be smuggled from the United States or elsewhere. The source was not domestic,” said Insp. Chris McBryan, the officer in charge of NWEST’s western region.

NWEST worked with Ridge Meadows RCMP on the Stover investigation.

“NWEST is dedicated to providing assistance in combating the illegal distribution of firearms to organized crime,” McBryan said. 

“This investigation is another example of how effective partnerships between NWEST and municipal policing services, like Ridge Meadows RCMP, counter the illegal movement of firearms within Canada.”

Stover appeared in Surrey Provincial Court Monday on eight charges of illegally transferring firearms and one of careless storage of a gun. She was released on $1,500 bail. She must keep the peace and stay away from her co-accused as well as any store that sells guns. 

Surrey roommates Gualter De Medeiros, 54, and Warren Svensrud, 50, have also been released on bail. De Medeiros, who’s believed to have gang links, is charged with six counts of possession of a firearm knowing there was no licence, two counts of possession of a restricted or prohibited firearm with ammunition and one of careless storage of a gun. Svensrud is charged with two counts of possessing a firearm without a licence and one of careless storage.

Surrey has been plagued by rampant gun violence linked to the drug trade. Already in 2016 there have been 32 shootings, which have resulted in one murder, several injuries and property damage — including a bullet hole in the side of an RCMP community office. 

Mounties seized 13 firearms in Surrey just last week.

Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit said his agency worked on several cases targeting smugglers bringing guns into Canada from the U.S. between 2010 and 2014.

In February, Tyler Ryan Cuff was sentenced in a Surrey courtroom to 42 months in prison for bringing firearms he purchased at Washington State guns shows into B.C.

At least 13 of the firearms he bought have been recovered at crime scenes in Canada.

Cuff was arrested after a CFSEU investigation in August 2014, months before Washington expanded background checks to include private sales of firearms, which are common at gun shows.

And in May 2015, Oregon also toughened gun laws by making background checks mandatory for all private sales, including online purchases.

Houghton said the changes in U.S. law plus enforcement action on both sides of the border have led to the change in how B.C. criminals obtain their firepower.

“Any of these deterrents will result in the criminals changing their behaviour and seeking out firearms in a different way,” Houghton said.

“Now it’s the overwhelming majority of firearms that make their way into the hands of people using them illegally come from legal sources — a legitimate law-abiding gun owner doing everything they can and their house gets broken into and their gun gets stolen.”

Houghton said “these criminals are like water: they’ll find the path of least resistance to get to their end goal.”

So police are changing their tactics, too.

CFSEU is working with Surrey RCMP and NWEST on a new “Safe City” project where they visit the owners of restricted and prohibited firearms whose registrations have expired.

If the owner no longer wants their firearm, police take it. If they want to keep it, they must get their paperwork in order.

“The objective of this project is to educate firearms owners on the current laws surrounding firearms, as some may not even realize that they are non-compliant,” Surrey RCMP Asst. Com. Bill Fordy said. “Our aim is to reduce the number of illegally-owned and unregistered firearms in Surrey, as well as enhance public and police officer safety.”

McBryan, of NWEST, said the shift to domestically sourced crime guns is happening across Canada.

“The numbers aren’t exactly the same. The idea that most crime guns are domestically sourced now is consistent,” he said.

Conservative Surrey MP and former mayor Dianne Watts said she has heard from police that most criminals are now getting their firearms on this side of the border.

“If we go back a little bit in history, there was a huge influx of weapons coming up from the United States and that was the norm for quite a period of time,” said Watts, who represents South Surrey-White Rock.

“Because of the crackdown on that front, it morphs into something else. So now you have somebody who is inconspicuous and goes and purchases legitimately these guns and then sells them to people to undertake criminal activity. There has got to be a major lens put on that.”

kbolan@postmedia.com

Blog: The Real Scoop

twitter.com/kbolan

The B.C. government will spend $23 million more for police, prosecutors and programs to combat the province’s gangs and gun problem.

Premier Christy Clark announced the new funding in Surrey Friday, where there have been 32 shootings so far this year, primarily over drug-trade turf wars.

But she stressed that B.C.’s gang problem is not isolated to one community because gangsters are like “cockroaches” who move frequently to ply their illegal trade.

“The frequency and public nature of recent gang shootings is unacceptable and demands this additional, strategic deployment of resources. People deserve to feel safe no matter where they live in B.C.,” Clark said. “This needs to be a provincewide initiative.”

The money is going to several programs:

• B.C.’s anti-gang police unit, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, will create two new 10-person teams “to support police in communities around the province,” Clark said.

• Some money will go to an existing program that targets the most violent gangsters and their networks, no matter where they are in B.C.

• Funds, which will be “flowing immediately,” will pay for dedicated prosecutors to push forward cases against priority criminals, Clark said.

• She said there would also be money for increasing the capacity for electronic monitoring of high-risk offenders when they’re on bail or serving sentences in the community.

• Crime Stoppers will get $450,000 in cash to offer rewards to those with information about gangs or guns.

• Some of the money will be put into CFSEU’s successful End Gang Life program, where officers do presentations to schools and community groups around B.C.

• Funding will also be used to establish an Office of Crime Reduction and Gang Outreach, which will help gangsters wanting to change their lives.

• The province is also creating an illegal firearms task force to study and strengthen provincial and federal programs related to illegal firearms.

Clark stood with her Public Safety Minister Mike Morris and senior RCMP and municipal police officers outside the RCMP’s B.C. headquarters in Surrey. Just a week earlier, it was a similar scene with Morris addressing the media in Surrey about the danger of gangs, but without committing any new funding.

On Friday, Morris said “enhancing public safety in the face of recent shootings means pulling out all the stops.”

“We are strengthening our strategies and our front-line capacity to get guns off the street, putting gangsters behind bars and increasing our efforts to ensure young people understand gang life is a dead end,” he said. “Our multi-faceted approach is designed to effectively and quickly counter both the gunplay and its roots.”

RCMP Deputy Commissioner Craig Callens, the top RCMP officer in B.C., welcomed the news.

“We appreciate the additional funding and support being provided to the RCMP, CFSEU-BC and our law enforcement partners, who are all working together to target, investigate, prosecute and disrupt those individuals and groups that pose the highest risk to public safety in our province,” Callens said. “As part of B.C.’s guns and gangs strategy, we will be heightening our enforcement activities, increasing the level of information and intelligence-sharing and enhancing our prevention and community engagement programs.”

B.C. will look at whether laws need to be changed to better deal with gangsters and gun crimes, Clark said.

“Gangs evolve. Criminals come up with new ways to commit crimes,” she said.

Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner attended the announcement and said afterwards she hoped the extra money would make a difference.

“I really like the fact that they are adding prosecutors,” she said.

Surrey-Newton NDP MLA Harry Bains said he was pleased the government was finally investing in resources to fight the violence.

“Overall, I am happy because after three years of ignoring this problem, three years of pressure from us the opposition and the community, they are reacting,” said Bains.

But he said there wasn’t enough focus in the announcement on prevention programs.

“There are parents out there who are looking for support when they see their child is having some problems and may be moving in the wrong direction and they are not getting the support right now,” he said.

Even the Surrey school board’s success WRAP program for at-risk students has a waiting list, Bains said.

“These children should not be waiting when they need help today, they should receive help today.”

Bains said some of the money should be going to the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team given that dozens of gang murders in recent years remain unsolved.

“Those who kill, they walk around knowing no one is even going to catch them, arrest them, never mind putting them in jail. So there is no deterrence there.”

His own nephew Arun Bains was gunned down in Surrey a year ago and the murder remains unsolved.

“Individual families deserve support from government so they can put an end to their suffering or at least they can move forward and know the person who committed that crime is behind bars and they are not going to harm anyone else,” Bains said.

Kbolan@postmedia.com

 It was just after 9 p.m. on March 11 when Ishaan “Lucky” Dhanoa’s white sedan struck a tree near 79^th Avenue and 123 Street in Surrey.

Passersby ran to his aid, but the 21-year-old died in hospital a short time later.

At first, police just called his death “suspicious.” Later, the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team was called in and police confirmed he’d been shot — the only fatality so far this year from Surrey’s frequent gun violence.

Few details have emerged about the unsolved slaying. Dhanoa had not amassed any criminal charges or convictions in his short life. But sources say he was involved in the low-level drug trade, like others linked to the public gunplay that has plagued Surrey.

Dhanoa’s grandmother Amarjit Shant spoke briefly to The Vancouver Sun this week. She said the family is struggling with the tragedy, but has no idea why it happened.

“It’s too hard. It’s so bad,” she said. “What happened to Ishaan I don’t know.”

Ishaan (Lucky) Dhanoa, murdered on March 11 in Surrey. 

She said he was “a very gentle boy. And quiet.”

“I don’t know what happened,” said Shant, a respected Punjabi writer.

Surrey RCMP says most of those involved in the gun violence are typically young and working on the front-line of the local drug trade, meaning they take calls from customers, package drugs for street sales and make deliveries for the city’s numerous dial-a-dope lines.

The violence comes from their battles over turf, personal disputes and the fact they have ready access to firearms even at the lowest rung of the drug business.

Several of the 2016 shootings have been linked to two warring groups.

The Sun has looked into the background of several of those charged this year, searching for common threads in their life stories. 

Most have had frequent contact with the criminal justice system starting in their youth. Others, like accused drug trafficker Pardip (Perry) Hayer, 30, are less known to police. Hayer was charged after Mounties pulled over his vehicle March 16 and allege they found $4.5 million worth of fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and other drugs. It was among Surrey’s largest drug busts.

Pardip (Perry) Hayer, charged in Surrey’s biggest drug bust.

Hayer’s only adult conviction in B.C., according to the online court database, was in Surrey in 2009 for possession of stolen property worth more than $5000. He got a one-year conditional sentence.

Now he’s in pre-trial custody after a provincial court judge denied him bail Wednesday. He’s scheduled to be arraigned on May 3.

The investigation into the destination of the drugs he allegedly carried is continuing.

Marcel Duke, left, with Antonio Dennison.

Blanarou, 22, and Dennison, 21, are each facing three firearms charges and one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking. Both remain in pre-trial custody.

Blanarou faced an earlier trafficking charge in 2011, but it was later dropped, while a co-accused was convicted.

Despite Dennison’s young age, he’s had regular interaction with police and the courts. Last August, he was sentenced to 24 days in jail for abducting his young child outside a probation office where he was supposed to have a supervised visit.

Crown prosecutor Michael Fortino told Surrey provincial court Judge Andrea Brownstone that Dennison is “a young person who’s basically grown up in the youth justice system, spending a significant amount of time in custody and starting to amass adult criminal convictions upon his release from the youth justice world.”

“Your honour will note that Mr. Dennison is still involved with a peer group that has ties to the criminal justice process,” said Fortino, according to a transcript of the hearing obtained by The Sun. “What’s salient with respect to the matter before you, the (pre-sentence report) basically shows that Mr. Dennison … possesses no insight into the seriousness of the offence for which he was convicted.”

His lawyer, John Douglas, argued that Dennison’s crime involved no violence and that he only had his child “for a very short period of time.”

“He was very cooperative with police when they showed up,” Douglas said. “He has cognitive issues, we’ve all seen them, and hopefully he can get some help with those through a probation officer.”

Instead, Dennison has found himself back in jail. One of the new charges he faces is breaching the probation conditions from last summer.

Breaching court conditions has led to several convictions for Dennison. He has also been found guilty of possession of stolen property, resisting police, flight from a peace officer and carrying identification papers belonging to someone else.

Dennison was also charged with robbery last year. His co-accused in that case was Marcel Duke, one of the other suspects in the recent Surrey violence. Both were convicted only of breaching previous court conditions.

Dennison has several photos of him and Duke on his Facebook page, suggesting a longtime friendship.

Duke, 22, has also been a regular in provincial court in the four years he’s been legally an adult.

Duke was convicted of robbery in Surrey in February 2013 and was sentenced to 11 months in jail. A few months later, a year-long peace bond was imposed on him and he was fined after a charge of assault with a weapon and uttering threats. He has a 2014 assault conviction in Burnaby for which he got 30 days in jail. Last August, he received another month-long sentence for a mischief conviction. In December 2015, he went to jail for 28 more days for a breach.

Now he’s charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and flight from police. He was back in a Surrey courtroom on Friday.

Duke posts lots of selfies on his Facebook page. There’s a photo of some new Versace sunglasses and a comment from a friend saying he’s back in jail.

Surrey police arrested 40-year-old Rajinder Johal on April 7, saying he is also a suspect in a shooting. He’s been charged with four firearms counts and was released April 12 on $10,000 bail by Judge Donald Gardner.

Corey Lee Myers.

By Jan. 4, the 25-year-old with a lengthy criminal history was in jail after a crazy high-speed chase through Surrey and Delta during which several shots were fired.

A citizen pursued Myers, who was with James Gerald Richardson, 47, and Eric Anthony Blakeslee, 27. The citizen called 911 after he approached a suspicious vehicle in his neighbourhood and reported that he was then shot at.

Photo of a firearm from Corey Meyers Facebook page. 

He has convictions dating back to 2009 for assault causing bodily harm in Fort St. John, trafficking and resisting arrest in Chilliwack, assault, uttering threats and possession of a firearm contrary to an order in Vancouver, and several breaches of court-ordered conditions.

His co-accused also have long histories with police, particularly Richardson, who has more than 20 convictions around the province over the years. Many of the offences are minor — driving while disqualified, use of a stolen credit card, break and enter. But he was sentenced to three years for robbery in 2011.

Both police and criminal sources say chronic offenders and petty criminals are meeting gangsters while in jail and being recruited to work the drug lines once they’re released.

Often struggling with addiction, poverty and other issues, they’re ripe for exploitation.

Surrey-Newton NDP MLA Harry Bains said Friday that his city is long overdue for a drug court to deal with chronic offenders like some of those involved in the violence.

“We need to have a specialized court like Vancouver has so we can deal with their underlying problems and get them off the street.”

kbolan@postmedia.com

The B.C. government will spend $23 million more for police, prosecutors and programs to combat the province’s gangs and gun problem.

Premier Christy Clark announced the new funding in Surrey Friday, where there have been 32 shootings so far this year, primarily over drug-trade turf wars.

But she stressed that B.C.’s gang problem is not isolated to one community because gangsters are like “cockroaches” who move frequently to ply their illegal trade.

“The frequency and public nature of recent gang shootings is unacceptable and demands this additional, strategic deployment of resources. People deserve to feel safe no matter where they live in B.C.,” Clark said. “This needs to be a provincewide initiative.”

The money is going to several programs:

• B.C.’s anti-gang police unit, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, will create two new 10-person teams “to support police in communities around the province,” Clark said.

• Some money will go to an existing program that targets the most violent gangsters and their networks, no matter where they are in B.C.

• Funds, which will be “flowing immediately,” will pay for dedicated prosecutors to push forward cases against priority criminals, Clark said.

• She said there would also be money for increasing the capacity for electronic monitoring of high-risk offenders when they’re on bail or serving sentences in the community.

• Crime Stoppers will get $450,000 in cash to offer rewards to those with information about gangs or guns.

• Some of the money will be put into CFSEU’s successful End Gang Life program, where officers do presentations to schools and community groups around B.C.

• Funding will also be used to establish an Office of Crime Reduction and Gang Outreach, which will help gangsters wanting to change their lives.

• The province is also creating an illegal firearms task force to study and strengthen provincial and federal programs related to illegal firearms.

Clark stood with her Public Safety Minister Mike Morris and senior RCMP and municipal police officers outside the RCMP’s B.C. headquarters in Surrey. Just a week earlier, it was a similar scene with Morris addressing the media in Surrey about the danger of gangs, but without committing any new funding.

On Friday, Morris said “enhancing public safety in the face of recent shootings means pulling out all the stops.”

“We are strengthening our strategies and our front-line capacity to get guns off the street, putting gangsters behind bars and increasing our efforts to ensure young people understand gang life is a dead end,” he said. “Our multi-faceted approach is designed to effectively and quickly counter both the gunplay and its roots.”

RCMP Deputy Commissioner Craig Callens, the top RCMP officer in B.C., welcomed the news.

“We appreciate the additional funding and support being provided to the RCMP, CFSEU-BC and our law enforcement partners, who are all working together to target, investigate, prosecute and disrupt those individuals and groups that pose the highest risk to public safety in our province,” Callens said. “As part of B.C.’s guns and gangs strategy, we will be heightening our enforcement activities, increasing the level of information and intelligence-sharing and enhancing our prevention and community engagement programs.”

B.C. will look at whether laws need to be changed to better deal with gangsters and gun crimes, Clark said.

“Gangs evolve. Criminals come up with new ways to commit crimes,” she said.

Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner attended the announcement and said afterwards she hoped the extra money would make a difference.

“I really like the fact that they are adding prosecutors,” she said.

Surrey-Newton NDP MLA Harry Bains said he was pleased the government was finally investing in resources to fight the violence.

“Overall, I am happy because after three years of ignoring this problem, three years of pressure from us the opposition and the community, they are reacting,” said Bains.

But he said there wasn’t enough focus in the announcement on prevention programs.

“There are parents out there who are looking for support when they see their child is having some problems and may be moving in the wrong direction and they are not getting the support right now,” he said.

Even the Surrey school board’s success WRAP program for at-risk students has a waiting list, Bains said.

“These children should not be waiting when they need help today, they should receive help today.”

Bains said some of the money should be going to the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team given that dozens of gang murders in recent years remain unsolved.

“Those who kill, they walk around knowing no one is even going to catch them, arrest them, never mind putting them in jail. So there is no deterrence there.”

His own nephew Arun Bains was gunned down in Surrey a year ago and the murder remains unsolved.

“Individual families deserve support from government so they can put an end to their suffering or at least they can move forward and know the person who committed that crime is behind bars and they are not going to harm anyone else,” Bains said.

Kbolan@postmedia.com

I had no expectations going into Sunday’s Sun Run. I knew I could finish. I’ve done all the training. But given that I had an injured knee just a few months ago and that I came down with a throat infection last week that has me on antibiotics, my only goal was to finish.

I did that and I did it faster than last year. I came in at an hour, 11 minutes and some change, cutting a minute and 20 seconds off my 2o15 run. That felt fantastic!

The whole race felt better second time around — maybe because I know the feel of the route. I had the chance to start in the VIP section (for doing the blog) and that was a real advantage. We were just after the elite men, so didn’t have the huge crowds at least at first. I met Justice Minister Suzanne Anton in our corral, so we were able to chat about gang violence and Friday’s announcement of $23 million to combat it.

And then we were off. It was cool and shady as we headed toward Stanley Park and then turned southward and along Lost Lagoon. While I liked getting to start right at 9 a.m., I didn’t like having faster runners hit me with their shoulders and arms as they passed. I tried to stay to the side of the pack so I was out of their way, but I was knocked several times and not happy about it.

The course really is fabulous — the views are beautiful, but there is just enough up and down and around corners to stop old knees for hurting. The section along Beach Drive is my favourite. I could find shade, there were lots of water stations, great bands and the energy was fabulous! I’m still mad at the KISS FM employee who hit me in the chest with a blast of cold water from her super soaker!  

And then the hill! Honestly, it didn’t seem that bad. Our Hillcrest group has been training around QE park, so we’ve done lots of hills. And it paid off. 

I tried to increase my speed on some sections of the second half when I felt solid. I’m sure that’s why my time was better. But then there were other times along Sixth, heading to the finish, that I felt too hot, really tired and ready for it to be over!

A lot of us were huffing and puffing the final incline up to the Cambie Street bridge. I wanted to run faster, but I didn’t have the gas. I waited till I was at the top, then tried to pick it up a little. 

It was kind of fun when the announcer called my name as I crossed a timing device right before the finish. It spurred me on to the end.

And now for 2017 …