Even the officers with the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit’s gang team were surprised by the sheer number of weapons they seized after a four day Kamloops crackdown.

CFSEU Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton says they seized a lot of drugs, cash, and an unnerving number of weapons.

“That number is a bit unusual. It is a bit high. Knowing how professionally aggressive and on the ball our uniformed gang enforcement team are I am absolutely not surprised that they are stopping and checking the right people with help from the Kamloops RCMP. Their actions are very directed and targeted in the right areas but those numbers are a bit high.”

Houghton says officers seized a whole bunch of knives, axes, machetes, brass knuckles, pepper spray, gun magazines, and ammunition.

Will the CFSEU Uniformed Gang Enforcement Team be coming back to Kamloops?

“Everytime an RCMP detachment or municipal agency asks for us to come as Kamloops did last week we will jump in our cars and get there as quickly as we can. I fully anticipate we will be back up in Kamloops at some point in the near future.”

The crackdown came after two men were gunned down in what police called targeted killings.

Houghton says gang hits can be tough cases to crack.

“It is not easy. It is often very complicated. Regardless of some of the challenges we have on the legal side in order to prove things and get them to a certain standard for crown counsel to approve and lay charges and then get through the court process. A lot of the complexities are around the gathering of evidence and then of course having people with knowledge coming forward.”

On January 23rd 31-year-old Cody Mathieu and 41-year-old Rex Gill were gunned down in what police called targeted shootings hours apart in different parts of Kamloops.