5 arrests in alleged B.C. drug conspiracy

Five men police allege to be gang members in Metro Vancouver face drug charges after a sting operation that stretched from British Columbia to Mexico.

Following a nine-month investigation, the men are accused of trying to make a deal with undercover police to smuggle 100 kilograms of cocaine into B.C.

Jarrod Bacon, Arnold Scott, Douglas Vanalstine, Nicholas Wester and Daryl Johnson are all facing drug possession, conspiracy and trafficking charges after their arrests in the Vancouver area Thursday.

'We're targeting the people who are the highest risk to public safety' Supt. Dan Malo, RCMP

Police allege Bacon and Scott are members of the Red Scorpions gang, while the other three men are said to bemembers of a gang calling itself United Nations.

Police said they believed Vanalstine was the new leader of the United Nations gang. Former leader Barzan Tilli-Choli was arrested in April awaiting trial on charges he plotted to murder members of the Bacon family.

The undercover B.C. police officers, along with police in Tijuana, Mexico, and Juarez, Mexico, masqueraded as cocaine suppliers, and both gangs each unaware of the other fell for the ruse, police said.

Police said each gang put down a $100,000 deposit on the expected $3-million cocaine shipment.

Authorities said the arrests could be a major blow to the two rival gangs and should reassure the public.

"These types of arrests definitely show the community we are targeting the right people," said Supt. Dan Malo of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit. "We're targeting the people who are the highest risk to public safety."