Skip to content

Three arrested in Saanich dope bust

Undercover cops cracked ‘close-knit’ heroin circle

Three men accused of operating a dial-a-dope operation are awaiting court dates.

Getting to this point was a month-long process that involved infiltrating the “close-knit community” of heroin buyers and sellers in Victoria, said Const. Mike Russell. It took about a month for undercover officers to gain the trust of the alleged dealers before they could purchase drugs, and eventually make arrests.

“We had info on this group from probably the beginning of March. It took a while to set up any kinds of buys and to gain that trust and work that angle,” Russell said.

Dial-a-dope operations involve dealers delivering drugs to buyers. In this case, the dealers were operating out of a Saanich house in the 3900-block of Carey Road.

Strike force officers from VicPD worked with Saanich police officers to make a first arrest on April 12 after buying drugs from one of three suspected dealers three times in a one-week period. Wayne Jackson, 21, was charged with five counts of trafficking and two counts of possession.

Even after Jackson’s arrest, the operation continued, Russell said. Undercover officers bought more drugs from Jackson’s associates.

Over the next two weeks, officers arrested James Chu, 28, and Anh Truong, 29. The latter lived in the Carey Road home.

Inside the house, police found $15,000 worth of heroin and cocaine, plus smaller amounts of crack and marijuana, as well as $8,500 cash.

Chu is charged with two counts of possession. Truong is charged with two counts of possession and two of trafficking.

Russell said police didn’t release information about last month’s arrests until now because police were looking into other associates of the operation.

“We wanted to make sure we were covering off all our leads,” he said. “We were looking at other leads (but) that didn’t happen. We think we’ve got all the people connected with this.”

ecardone@vicnews.com