Canada - A Langley trucking company is linked to two men facing charges in the U.S. as part of an international drug trafficking ring allegedly run by the Hells Angels, The Vancouver Sun has learned.
The local trucking firm, Image Logistics Ltd., was founded in 2002 by Robert J. Shannon, Richard Jansen, and Jody York, according to corporate documents obtained by The Sun.
York's million-dollar Langley house was the target of a drive-by shooting in October, just two weeks before his associate Joe Krantz was gunned down at his Abbotsford extreme fighting club.
Krantz, a member of the Independent Soldiers' gang, and York were facing charges laid in Kelowna earlier this year for allegedly "causing a disturbance."
Both Shannon and Jansen are going to trial in Seattle in February, charged with conspiracy to traffic drugs and money laundering related to a marijuana and cocaine smuggling ring alleged to have moved $19 million US worth of product.
Another trucking company headed by Jansen, Scorpion Transport, was named in the U.S. court papers, while Image Logistics was not. But some of the large shipments of pot are alleged to have been trucked across the B.C.-Washington border by Shannon's group when he and Jansen were listed as vice-president and treasurer of Image Logistics.
When the trio started Image Logistics, York already had a criminal record, and Shannon, whom police say is an associate of three B.C. Hells Angels chapters, was facing drug and firearms charges.
Neither the provincial government nor any other regulatory body does criminal record checks of those starting trucking companies, or applying for mandatory safety certificates from the Transportation Ministry, The Sun has learned.
"I don't think we have any responsibility for that," the ministry's Jeff Knight said Friday.
He said the ministry issues "National Safety Code Certificates" to truckers. According to the certificate criteria, someone can be denied for a poor driving history or a "motor vehicle-related Criminal Code conviction in the past 36 months."
Shannon was found guilty on the gun count on Sept. 19, 2003, just months after Image Logistics filed its first annual report. He got a one-year conditional sentence and a 10-year prohibition on firearm ownership.
York also had a criminal record before becoming president of Image Logistics. His run-ins with the law date back to when he was 19, according to provincial court records. He was convicted of assault, then theft over $5,000, followed by another assault conviction and one for driving while prohibited.
York is to go to trial in Kelowna in February on his latest charge, though the count against his slain co-accused, Krantz, was stayed Oct. 31.
The Sun was unable to contact York about his link to the two men charged in the U.S. The telephone line for Image Logistics has been cut off. The company email addresses bounced back, and a trip to the business on Telegraph Trail on Sunday showed the Image Logistics signs removed, though the company's website remains active.
When Shannon and Jansen were charged in the U.S. last June, the RCMP said there was a parallel probe in Canada. "We're continuing to investigate people tied to that group," RCMP Insp. Gary Shinkaruk said at the time.
Shinkaruk also said Shannon was associated with full-patch members of the Hells Angels in Vancouver, Haney, and Mission.
Ten days ago, three of Shannon's and Jansen's co-accused pleaded guilty to the U.S. charges, and face mandatory sentences of at least 10 years.
Abbotsford's Devron Quast, 38, and Philip Stone, 45, were managers at the Quast family Hyundai dealership while living their covert life as international drug smugglers. John Fairweather, 52, also admitted his role in the plot, after being arrested at their Bellingham storage facility.
Detailed court documents point to surreptitiously recorded conversations and telephone calls, coded BlackBerry messages, and police seizures of 7,000 pounds of B.C. Bud, 1,700 pounds of cocaine, and about $3.5 million US in cash.
Drugs were hidden inside hollowed-out logs on trucks, within the false walls of cargo containers and vehicles, within loads of commercial lumber, inside large PVC pipes, and in the interior of a propane tanker.
Shannon and Quast crossed the border together last June to meet their contact in Ferndale, Wash. The man was really an undercover agent.
Quast, who now admits his role in the ring, and Shannon, who has pleaded not guilty, worked closely "to facilitate the distribution of controlled substances on behalf of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club and others," the indictment says.
At meetings with the undercover cop, Shannon and Quast "discussed their ongoing criminal enterprise and pledged to work with the undercover agent toward greater cooperation in smuggling thousands of pounds of B.C. Bud into the United States," the indictment says.
Corporate records also show that, in February 2006, York filed documents with the B.C. Finance Ministry, saying Shannon and Jansen ceased to be directors of the company on Dec. 31, 2005.
But personal property records show that a current loan registered for one of Jansen's tractor-trailers still lists both Image Logistics and Scorpion as debtors.
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