Traffic stop on BC highway yields 73 kilograms of cocaine

A traffic stop by BC Highway Patrol police officers has led to the arrest of a 28-year-old man from Surrey after approximately 73 kilograms of cocaine was found in his vehicle.

The traffic stop was part of a joint enforcement roadblock between the BC Highway Patrol’s Traffic Safety Unit (Police Dog Service) and the Sicamous RCMP on Highway #1 near Malakwa on October 8, 2024.

The Traffic Safety Unit was supplemented with police officers from various BC Highway Patrol Units, including the Integrated Impaired Driving Unit, BC Highway Patrol (Burnaby) and BC Highway Patrol (Nelson).

The driver, who was the sole occupant of the vehicle, has been released with conditions and is scheduled to appear in court at a later date. The driver will not be identified until charges are approved. The investigation remains ongoing and the vehicle was seized.

The preliminary investigation would suggest that this has all the earmarks of organized crime. “This is a very large amount of drugs so certainly expect to see an impact on the illegal drug trafficking operations within the province,” says Inspector Lori Orstad, the Officer in Charge of the BC Highway Patrol’s Special Traffic Operations.

“This operation highlights the BC Highway Patrol’s Traffic Safety Unit’s ongoing efforts to make both our roadways and communities safer by removing dangerous drugs from circulation and preventing them from reaching our communities in BC.”