Charges laid against 6 alleged drug traffickers in B.C. linked to Wolfpack gang

Six people have been charged in relation to drug trafficking in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, according to the province-wide investigative team focused on gang activity.

The Public Prosecution Service of Canada approved criminal charges, most of which have to do with organized crime, against six men from the Lower Mainland:

• Joseph Ebert Charles Lowley, 39.

• Vinod Kanna Aruldevarajan, 27.

• Roger Alfredo Bardales Medina, 30.

• Hemen Hewa Saed, 30.

• Diego Maradona Saed, 23.

• Howjeen Saed, 27.

Investigators say all six are believed to be aligned with the Wolfpack Alliance, a gang that investigators say have been at the centre of  violence and drug trafficking for more than two decades.

Police say Diego Maradona Saed, Lowley and Bardales Medina are still at large, and anyone with information about their whereabouts is asked to call their local police detachment or Crime Stoppers.

The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU), a provincial anti-gang unit made of members from every police department in the province, started investigating alleged drug trafficking in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside in July 2020.

In a statement, the unit says it identified suspects from October that year until May 2021, and "multiple" search warrants were executed at "various" locations throughout Vancouver. Police seized:

• Seven prohibited and restricted firearms with over 1,000 rounds of ammunition.

• Ten kilograms of fentanyl.

• Three kilograms of cocaine and six kilograms of methamphetamine.

• Seventy-two kilograms of chemicals used to dilute or "cut" drugs.

• $160,000 in cash.

"This lengthy and complex investigation resulted in significant seizures of potentially deadly drugs and serious charges against those who take advantage of the most vulnerable in our communities," CFSEU Chief Officer Manny Mann said in a statement.

The Wolfpack is believed to have been formed as early as 2010, but it wasn't until the 2012 Toronto killing of John Raposo that the group gained national attention.