Drug war in Kamloops

Photo: Contributed

Kamloops is in the midst of a violent crime wave and local RCMP have a strong warning for those in the local drug trade.

“We are in the middle of an opioid crisis which is largely caused and fuelled by organized crime,” said Cpl. Jodi Shelkie.

“We have seen a trend in Kamloops of high levels of violence occurring with the local participants of our drug community. Many of these crimes are being committed by people against their own local allegiances. Not all violence is one group against another.”

Shelkie said it is not safe to be a drug trafficker in Kamloops right now.

“The group who is supplying your drugs today may be the same ones who will kill you tomorrow. If you know who is doing the violence, it’s time to contact the police.

“We continue to target those who pose the greatest risk and commit acts of violence in our community. Crimes like this will attract police to your drug organization.”

Shelkie said someone knows who is responsible for the violent crime and those people need to come forward and contact police.

“We are aggressively working on these investigations. The best solution is to get those committing this violence in jail. Our officers are working hard to identify and strategically target and investigate individuals with ties to the ongoing gang conflict,” said Shelkie.

Additional resources have been called in to help Kamloops police including the Uniform Gang Enforcement Team.

Police know the rash of violence is causing concerns in the city.

“While we cannot say there is no risk to the general public, we can say that each of the incidents appear to be targeted,” she said.

“For those involved in these shootings or people who know them – we ask that you think about the safety of your family, friends and the general public. The manner that you have chosen to resolve this dispute is careless and unacceptable.”