Chilliwack RCMP foil another extortion attempt
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Updated: November 10, 2009 3:38 PM
Three Chilliwack men lured into the drug underworld by the promise of making some big money found themselves "in way over their heads" and exposed their families to threats of extortion and worse, RCMP investigators say.
"That's the story that needs to be told," Cpl. Lea-Anne Dunlop said Monday.
It's the second time in recent months that otherwise law-abiding citizens in Chilliwack have found themselves victims of extortion threats.
But it's likely more extortion cases go unreported to police because of fear of criminal retribution, Dunlop said. Which is exactly what the criminals are counting on.
"We're going to work these cases, and we're going to get to the end result, which is an arrest," Dunlop said.
But the best protection, she said, is to stay away from criminal activities like marijuana grow-operations and drug trafficking.
"When people get involved in the drug trade, money is often the motivation," Dunlop said. "In this case, the price to pay went well beyond money and put the three males, and their family and friends, all in harms way."
Police allege the three men, two in their 40s and one in his 30s, had become involved in transporting drugs when one shipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars failed to show up at its destination in eastern Canada.
One of the three men was then "interviewed" by several unidentified men wearing masks and carrying automatic weapons. When his answers were not satisfactory, police say he was severely beaten and tortured.
Eventually, all three of the Chilliwack men were bound and threatened, and their cell phones taken from them.
The phones would provide the criminals with a list of contacts for future beatings, if the three Chilliwack men failed to pay up or recover the drugs, police said.
But in this case, Chilliwack RCMP got a tip about the extortion plot, and a two-week long investigation began involving over 60 police officers.
Last Friday, two male suspects, a 28-year-old from Delta and a 29-year-old from Langley, were arrested by members of the Chilliwack RCMP serious crime unit, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, the Integrated Gang Task Force, the Vancouver Police Drug Section and the Lower Mainland District Emergency Response Team.
The two suspects were scheduled to appear in Chilliwack court Monday to face charges of extortion and aggravated assault.
In late September, an Abbotsford man and two Surrey teens were arrested in connection with an attempt to extort half a million dollars from a Chilliwack businessman.
But in that case, the victim had no link to any criminal activity. Police allege he was selected for extortion solely because the suspects believed he had the ability to pay.
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