ST. STEPHEN, New Brunswick – More than 20 area residents were outraged Thursday when they learned that 33 people arrested Tuesday for possession of illegal firearms, drugs and child pornography were back on the street.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police claimed the arrests of 23 men and 10 women dealt a major blow to organized crime in New Brunswick. However, residents of this community across the border from Calais, Maine, demanded to know why the suspects have been released, and said that the sparse information revealed by police has them fearing for the safety of their children.
“They’re not telling us anything. … They’re just putting us in danger,” said Deneca Calhoun of St. Stephen.
She was joined by a crowd of residents that outnumbered police and reporters at a news conference at the town’s tourist bureau.
“We don’t know who has been caught. They didn’t give us any names,” Calhoun said. “We don’t know if they are back here. We don’t know if our children are in danger.”
The RCMP’s media relations officer, Sgt. Derek Strong, said the police were aware of people’s frustrations, but they had rules to follow.
“Details are sketchy because we are constrained by laws, court appearances and we have charges to be proven,” Strong said. “But we arrested 33 people in this area and the reaction of the people [in the room] … shows how significant this arrest is.”
The investigation, code-named Jerrican, began last September focusing on guns being smuggled into New Brunswick from Maine. It eventually involved police and drug enforcement agencies across much of the province and Maine.
“The investigation led police to a significant amount of other illegal activity,” said RCMP Staff Sgt. Mitch McMillan.
On Tuesday, search warrants were executed at seven residences in St. Stephen, two in neighboring Mayfield, one in Mohannes and two in Saint John, located about an hour away from St. Stephen. Those arrested ranged in age from 15 to 60 years old.
Police seized five guns, an explosive device, and small quantities of cash and drugs.
Strong said it’s believed the group had already trafficked 99 percent of its smuggled guns before the raids.
Asked if the guns could be traced to Calais, McMillan said, “I am not sure.” He declined to comment further.
In October last year, agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms went to a store in Calais that sells firearms and carried out boxes of documents. There has been no further word from the bureau on the status of that case.
The RCMP offered little information Thursday about the improvised explosive device found at a residence in Saint John, except to say that had it been detonated, it would have seriously injured or killed anyone nearby. It was not powerful enough to cause structural damage to a building, police said.
“The investigation is ongoing, with charges to be laid at a later date,” McMillan said.
That comment and the reference to the suspects having been released on recognizance infuriated some residents attending the press conference.
“If you don’t have your ducks in a row, don’t come into our town and do that,” shouted Mindy Baxter. “All you’re doing is putting everyone else in danger.”
“Obviously the RCMP thought they had something to go on, but it turns out they didn’t,” she later told reporters.
Officials tried to defuse the uproar by explaining that police must be able to prove all the charges in court.
“If the RCMP breaks one rule, someone could go free and we are not about to let that happen,” Strong said.
“But they’re free,” a woman yelled.
“They’re free for the moment,” Strong responded.
“You should damn well put them in jail,” one woman yelled. She said that local residents were being placed in harm’s way because those arrested were not behind bars.
“Please bear in mind we have not at this point laid formal charges,” the RCMP officials said. “Our investigation still continues, so when it is completed then that is when we will be able to lay the formal charges.”
Strong said several offenses were being considered, including, but not limited to, “importation of weapons, drug-related offenses and possession of child pornography.”
MacMillan stressed that the investigation had dealt “a major blow to organized crime in southwestern New Brunswick. That is part of the RCMP’s ongoing crime reduction strategy. We’re targeting the people we suspect to be prolific offenders, who are causing the most harm to their communities. The vast majority of crime is committed by a small minority of the population. By targeting those people, crime will go down significantly.”
MacMillan said that although New Brunswick is a safe place to live, it would be naive of the RCMP to believe that organized crime did not exist in the province.
“When I refer to organized crime, I am not necessarily referring to organized bikers and gangs. I am not referring to the mafia and traditional organized crime,” he said. “But organized crime can be any group of persons, three or more people, who continually commit criminal activity and utilize the profits from those crimes to support their lifestyle.”
Some parents said they feared that the child pornography seized may have involved their children, but Strong said all of the child pornography that the RCMP has seized was examined image by image. “Rarely is it locally [produced],” he said. “It is internationally traded through the Internet.”
After the press conference, St. Stephen resident Mindy Baxter still was not placated. But Betty Rogers, also of St. Stephen, said she did not blame the RCMP. “We should be supporting them, not turning our backs on the RCMP,” she said.
Rogers said the drug problem has touched her personally. “I have been through hell because of these people,” she said of those arrested. Rogers’ son is a drug addict. “One of these wonderful 33 people is my brother-in-law and he sold to his own nephew. If he can live with that. No name mentioned, but he knows who he is. And you’re talking about how they’re getting the drugs across the bridge; he’s a [former Canadian] customs officer,” she said.
The St. Stephen woman said she was angry drugs had destroyed her family, and wanted to send the message that “from the mother of a drug addict, I hope you rot in hell. I hope someday you go through the pain and suffering that we have,” she said.
Rogers said she was confident that all 33 arrested would be “going down.”
Canadian Press writer Kevin Bissett contributed to this report.
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