A picture released by the RCMP after the raid.
Image Credit: Veron North Okanagan RCMP
February 19, 2025 - 7:30 AM
A Vernon man, acquitted after $200,000 of meth and cocaine was found in a hidden compartment in his Jeep, is named in court documents after a handful of people have been charged in a large-scale organized crime drug and weapons bust.
Nearly 30 kilograms of drugs along with dozens of weapons were found following raids that stretched from Armstrong to West Kelowna in March 2023.
Almost two years after the raids, which Vernon North Okanagan RCMP described as the "largest and most significant drug and gun seizure" they'd ever had, Crown prosecutors have laid 27 charges against five individuals
Jesse Michael Valentino Bou-Saleh, Erica Belle Arlt, Ranvir Singh and Anthony Robert Summers have all been charged with drug trafficking in association with a criminal organization.
The court document also names Sean Kelly Lowen, William Brad Smith, David McIntosh and Nabil Mahmoud Abdel-Kader although they have not been charged.
Abdel-Kader recently made headlines when he walked out of a Vernon courtroom a free man although police had found $200,000 of meth and cocaine in a secret compartment in his vehicle. The Justice ruled that police had made a series of glaring errors and tossed the evidence.
Police had described Abdel-Kader as "untouchable" at the time.
Following the raids in 2023, the province went after assets owned by several of those accused.
Court documents filed by the BC Director of Civil Forfeiture shed some light on what police found.
According to the court documents, police uncovered 28 kilograms of various amounts of fentanyl, cocaine, MDMA and methamphetamine in a storage locker in West Kelowna. They also seized $58,000 in cash, body armour and 45 guns.
Dustin Lee Mackie is facing the majority of the weapons charges and court records accuse him of having multiple weapons, including a M-16 type automatic weapon and a Uzi submachine gun. Altogether, almost 50 weapons were seized, including 3D-printed guns.
Three months after the raid, the province went after Bou-Saleh's Lake Country home on Stillwater Court and his Range Rover.
Court documents allege he employed multiple drug dealers in the Vernon area since at least June 2022. His home and vehicle are the property of his wife Katarina Grabic who is also named in the documents.
In response to the court filing, Bou-Saleh denies ever trafficking drugs or employing people to do so and that he had no access to the West Kelowna locker.
The province also wants $58,000 which police found during the raid.
In the court documents, Bou-Saleh denies that the money was "bundled or packaged in a manner not consistent with standard banking practices."
It doesn't appear that the province has managed to seize Bou-Saleh's property yet and the case is still ongoing.
Armstrong's Erica Arlt hasn't been so lucky.
Court documents filed by the BC Director of Civil Forfeiture says during the 2023 raids police found multiple cell phones, drug packaging, digital scales and an RCMP uniform, along with an antique firearm and a money counter at the 39-year-old home on Belair Drive in Armstrong.
A month before the 2023 raid, Vernon RCMP had arrested McIntosh in Arlt's Audi and found almost 40 grams of fentanyl, meth, and cocaine.
McIntosh has a lengthy criminal record and was first charged with drug trafficking in 2010 when he was 18 years old.
In January 2024, the province won its court challenge and confiscated Arlt's 2007 Audi A4.
While Vernon RCMP described the bust as their biggest yet, surprisingly, those charged don't appear to have criminal records.
Singh, Arlt, Mackie and Bou-Saleh don't have a criminal record and Summers has only been convicted for using a forged document.
Arlt was granted bail, Feb. 13, while Singh is in custody waiting for a bail hearing next month. Arrest warrants have been issued for the others.
None of the charges have been proven in court.
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