-from news-press.com-

Fort Myers police seized marijuana, crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia in two separate busts Friday.

The first was at Gulf Stream Isles apartments on Red Cedar Drive, where police recovered 218 grams of marijuana, four adult marijuana plants and 12 adolescent plans, along with drug paraphernalia. Police have issued a “pick-up request” for Walter Cole, 54, for manufacturing marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school.

A second bust on Sumter Drive resulted in the seizure of crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia. Police arrested Derek Christmas, 21, on two charges: possession of cocaine with intent to distribute with 1,000 feet of a school, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Anyone with information about Cole’s whereabouts is asked to call Fort Myers police at 321-7700, Crime Stoppers at (800) 780-TIPS or send a text message to CRIMES (274637), using the keyword “FMPD.”

-from vancouversun.com-

By Katie Derosa

A sprawling team of police officers arrested eight people in early-morning raids across the region this morning, the product of a three-month undercover drug investigation.

Led by the Victoria police street crime unit, nearly 100 officers including two emergency response teams raided five locations in Saanich and the West Shore, seizing a large volume of drugs — mostly cocaine — firearms and cash, and arresting four men and four women, said Victoria police spokesman Sgt. Grant Hamilton.

Starting at 5 a.m., officers raided two properties in Colwood — a home in the 3600-block of Roberlack Road and a business in the Colwood Corners complex — one home in Langford in the 2600-block of Rainville Road and two homes in Saanich — in the 100-block of Regina and the 300-block of Burnside Road West.

Hamilton said the eight were involved in a large drug-trafficking operation, feeding cocaine into downtown Victoria and other parts of the region.

“It doesn’t matter where [the criminals] live, the drugs are trafficked downtown, they are sold downtown, they are used downtown.”

He said police will catalogue the evidence and release more information tomorrow.

The eight people are in custody but they have yet to be charged, Hamilton said, adding they are all known to police.

The drug operation is not tied to a specific organized gang, he said.

Searches are continuing, Hamilton said, and more illegal or stolen property could be seized.

Officers from the strike force unit, the regional crime unit, the RCMP’s combined special forces enforcement unit, Saanich police and West Shore RCMP assisted in the takedown, which Hamilton said could be one of the largest in the region.

Victoria police also brought in a tactical team to help with a raid on a home in the 3100-block of Quadra Street Saturday, which wrapped up a separate month-long drug investigation.

Officers seized 600 grams of dried marijuana, harvested from a grow-op in the home and with a street-level value of $5,000. They also seized six rifles, two crossbows, arrows, knives and ammunition.

The 34-year-old man arrested has a firearms licence for some of the guns but not others, Hamilton said.

The man is also registered as having two shotguns that are unaccounted for, which Hamilton said is concerning.

The man, and a 31-year-old woman who was also arrested, were released on a promise to appear in court Nov. 6.