Charges come three years after RCMP raided several Lower Mainland locations and seized 12 kilograms of MDMA along with $380,000 in cash.
Four B.C. men, including a full-patch Hells Angel, are facing drug charges in connection with what police describe as a “high-level MDMA trafficking and cocaine importation investigation.”
The charges come three years after investigators with B.C.’s RCMP federal serious and organized crime unit raided several locations around the Lower Mainland and seized 12 kilograms of MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy or molly, along with $380,000 in cash.
Police allege the money was going to be used as a down payment to smuggle 18 kilograms of cocaine into Canada.
Martino Calabretti, Daniel Alexander and Zlatko Gavric have been charged with conspiracy to import cocaine.
“The single charge against my client stems from allegations that are years old. He is presumed to be innocent and has always maintained his innocence. We look forward to vigorously defending him in court,” said Matthew Nathanson, Alexander’s lawyer.
Calabretti also faces four drug trafficking charges, while Vincenzo James Sansalone has been charged with two counts of trafficking in MDMA and MDA (synthetic amphetamine).
In 2011, Sansalone, a full-patch member of the Hells Angels’ Haney chapter, was convicted in Ontario for trafficking GHB in connection with the largest seizure of the ‘date rape’ drug in Canadian history. He was sentenced to six years in jail.
The four men, who were originally arrested in 2018 but not charged until this week, were scheduled to make their first court appearance in Vancouver on Tuesday.
The RCMP say more than 200 investigators from several RCMP units and U.S. agencies contributed to the probe, which was led by Mounties in Kelowna.
— With files from Kim Bolan
