Four men from B.C. are facing a number of charges in connection to a large, multi-year cannabis exportation investigation, police have announced.
Mark Manastyrski, Jason Van Den Born, William Price and Keith Wallis face charges of exportation of cannabis, possession for the purpose of exporting, distribution-related charges, accordign to Mounties.
Van Den Born faces two additional charges of cultivation of over four plants in house and careless storage of a firearm.
The investigation first began in June 2018 in what police have dubbed Project Eprominent, culminatin in the execution of five search warrants on June 18, 2019 in Langley, Surrey and Delta.
The searches in Langley and Surrey resulted in the seizure of a large amount of Canadian currency, five vehicles and twelve firearms.
Also seized was over 1180 kilograms of dried cannabis and over 5300 cannabis plants. The facility’s medical licence permitted less than 300 plants.
The fifth search warrant was executed in Delta and required the assistance of the Federal RCMP Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement and Response Team. As a result, an amount of aniline, which is a known fentanyl pre-cursor chemical, was seized.
“The cannabis black market continues to try and find ways to improve their profit by exploring options internationally,” said Supt. Richard Bergevin, Officer in Charge of the Federal Serious and Organized Crime.
“With the help of our Federal and International policing partners, we were able to stop the exportation of a significant quantity of cannabis and will continue to combat the efforts of organized crime at home and abroad.”
All four men are all scheduled to appear next in provincial court in December.