Pubdate: Thu, 14 Aug 2003 Source: Abbotsford News (CN BC) Copyright: 2003 Hacker Press Ltd. Contact: http://www.abbynews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1155 Author: Cheryl Wierda Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/traffic.htm (Traffic) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?188 (Outlaw Bikers) TWO-YEAR INTEGRATED POLICE INVESTIGATION RESULTS IN CHARGES An Abbotsford man is facing drug trafficking charges after an organized crime investigation that previously resulted in the arrests of two men for the 1996 Harris Road murders. Andrew Goosen, 19, is one of 11 men charged after a two-year integrated police investigation that involved RCMP, Organized Crime Agency of BC, Vancouver Police and Abbotsford Police. He is charged with conspiring to traffic cocaine and heroin, and appeared in a Vancouver courtroom yesterday on the charges. RCMP allege Goosen was part of a criminal organization headed up by Anthony Terazakis, 43, who police believe is an associate of the East end chapter of the Hells Angels. Terazakis is the first person in B.C. to be charged under new federal laws dealing with organized crime, said RCMP Insp. Bob Paulsen. The legislation allows for stronger sentences and creates three new offences under the organized crime category, including director of a criminal organization, which is the offence Terazakis is charged with. Terazakis, Goosen and two other men were allegedly involved with drug trafficking activity centered around the American Hotel in Vancouver's east side in 2002. The joint forces investigation grew out of a 1995 seizure of 305 kilograms of cocaine. That year, a van travelling eastbound on Highway 1 in the Fraser Valley was stopped and 170 kilograms of the illegal drug were found. That seizure led police back to a house on East 5th in Vancouver, where 135 kilograms of cocaine was found. Shortly after, Burnaby's Eugene and Michelle Uyeyama were murdered in their home, followed by the 1996 massacre of five on a Matsqui farm. Paulsen said that when the integrated police group began looking into the murders a couple of years ago, they believed the deaths were associated with drug trafficking and began looking at people suspected of being involved in organized crime. Last summer, the murder investigation resulted in the arrest of Robert Bruce Moyes for the Burnaby and Abbotsford murders. He has pleaded guilty and is serving life in prison. Mark Therrien is awaiting trial for the Abbotsford murders, while Sal Ciancio is before the courts for the Burnaby deaths. In this recent round of drug charges, Ciancio was also charged with conspiring to traffic cocaine in connection to the 1995 seizures that were the starting point of this lengthy investigation. Paulsen says these arrests are an example of the importance of an integrated approach by police to efficiently undermine the networked structure used by organized crime groups. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin