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Vancouver drug dealer gets 10 years in U.S.
Kim Bolan, Vancouver Sun
Published: Wednesday, April 01, 2009
A Vancouver man linked to the Independent Soldiers gang was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in a U.S. prison after pleading guilty in Sacramento to distributing ecstasy and money laundering.
Victor Faruq, 32, admitted that between January and April 2007, he supplied several Sacramento-area drug dealers with large quantities of the chemical party drug.
When his apartment in Elk Grove, Calif., was searched on April 5, 2007, detectives found about 300 ecstasy pills, more than $68,000 US and a bulletproof vest with the letters "Police" on it, according to documents filed by the U.S. attorney.
Police also found a key to a nearby residence where he stored drugs. There, investigators found 10,000 ecstasy pills, which Faruq later admitted also belonged to him.
Faruq confessed he used drug money to buy a 2003 Mercedes Benz S55 AMG, then registered it in the name of a friend to conceal that drug money had paid for it. He also laundered his drug profits by buying an expensive watch in an "off the books" transaction with a jeweller, court documents said.
U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez said the severity of the federal sentence for trafficking MDMA reflected Faruq's large-scale distribution of ecstasy and its impact on the most vulnerable members of the community because many youths are attracted to the drug.
Faruq is just the latest in a series of Canadian drug traffickers facing lengthy sentences in the U.S.
Supt. Dan Malo, who heads the B.C. Integrated Gang Task Force, said the fact the Independent Soldiers had their own operator in California shows the level of networking between B.C.-based gangs and their international counterparts.
"Organized crime has to be able to move its product for sale . . . . They have to be able to get it across the border," Malo pointed out.
Already the Soldiers, originally a south Vancouver gang that began using the IS logo in 2004, have made their way to other Canadian cities, he said.
"It doesn't surprise me that they are in California .... that would only make sense," he said. "It would give them an advantage right now."
The judge also cited Faruq's lack of employment and his ties to the Soldiers as factors warranting a stiff sentence.
Faruq, a Canadian citizen who was illegally in the U.S., will be deported after his sentence.
He was acquitted in Vancouver Provincial Court in 2003 of driving while prohibited and charged in 2004 with uttering threats and criminal harassment, but was never arrested on those counts. A warrant was issued for his arrest in 2004.
[email protected]
Read Kim Bolan's blog, the Real scoop, at vancouversun.com/bolan
© The Vancouver Sun 2009
Kim Bolan, Vancouver Sun
Published: Wednesday, April 01, 2009
A Vancouver man linked to the Independent Soldiers gang was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in a U.S. prison after pleading guilty in Sacramento to distributing ecstasy and money laundering.
Victor Faruq, 32, admitted that between January and April 2007, he supplied several Sacramento-area drug dealers with large quantities of the chemical party drug.
When his apartment in Elk Grove, Calif., was searched on April 5, 2007, detectives found about 300 ecstasy pills, more than $68,000 US and a bulletproof vest with the letters "Police" on it, according to documents filed by the U.S. attorney.
Police also found a key to a nearby residence where he stored drugs. There, investigators found 10,000 ecstasy pills, which Faruq later admitted also belonged to him.
Faruq confessed he used drug money to buy a 2003 Mercedes Benz S55 AMG, then registered it in the name of a friend to conceal that drug money had paid for it. He also laundered his drug profits by buying an expensive watch in an "off the books" transaction with a jeweller, court documents said.
U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez said the severity of the federal sentence for trafficking MDMA reflected Faruq's large-scale distribution of ecstasy and its impact on the most vulnerable members of the community because many youths are attracted to the drug.
Faruq is just the latest in a series of Canadian drug traffickers facing lengthy sentences in the U.S.
Supt. Dan Malo, who heads the B.C. Integrated Gang Task Force, said the fact the Independent Soldiers had their own operator in California shows the level of networking between B.C.-based gangs and their international counterparts.
"Organized crime has to be able to move its product for sale . . . . They have to be able to get it across the border," Malo pointed out.
Already the Soldiers, originally a south Vancouver gang that began using the IS logo in 2004, have made their way to other Canadian cities, he said.
"It doesn't surprise me that they are in California .... that would only make sense," he said. "It would give them an advantage right now."
The judge also cited Faruq's lack of employment and his ties to the Soldiers as factors warranting a stiff sentence.
Faruq, a Canadian citizen who was illegally in the U.S., will be deported after his sentence.
He was acquitted in Vancouver Provincial Court in 2003 of driving while prohibited and charged in 2004 with uttering threats and criminal harassment, but was never arrested on those counts. A warrant was issued for his arrest in 2004.
[email protected]
Read Kim Bolan's blog, the Real scoop, at vancouversun.com/bolan
© The Vancouver Sun 2009
