More than 100 police officers were involved in a sweeping drug bust that saw officers break down doors to search six locations across the capital region early yesterday morning.
Victoria police co-ordinated the sweep as part of a two-month investigation.
Sgt. Grant Hamilton said to catch the occupants by surprise, police obtained special warrants allowing them to break down the doors, rather than knock, when entering the residences.
"In a drug search, it's easy for the suspects to dispose of the evidence -- basically, they flush the drugs down the toilet," said Hamilton.
The searches were co-ordinated to all occur at 5:30 a.m. so suspects would not have the opportunity to warn their collaborators at other locations.
At least two drug dogs were used in the searches.
Residences in the 600-block of Brookside Road, 2400-block of Highland Road, 200-block of Nursery Hill Road, 1100-block of Lockley Road, and the 1000- and 1100-blocks of Hillside Avenue were searched, covering Esquimalt, Victoria and the West Shore.
"This is probably the biggest co-ordinated investigation regarding multi-search warrants we've ever done," said Hamilton.
"The biggest thing is keeping it secretive -- to do it all together so that you seize and secure the evidence so they can't tip each other off."
Cocaine, heroin, marijuana and ecstasy were seized, along with six vehicles and an undisclosed amount of cash.
Police will only describe the volume of items seized as "large," and are still cataloguing the evidence.
Several individuals have been arrested. Victoria police will reveal more details next week.
Teams that participated in the searches included the Regional Crime Unit, Saanich police, West Shore RCMP, RCMP Drug Section, Military Police and both Emergency Response Teams from Greater Victoria.
