VANCOUVER—The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is assisting the RCMP in its investigation of the killings of two B.C. men who went missing after sailing back to Vancouver Island from Panama in May.

In an email to the Star Friday morning, U.S. Department of Justice spokesperson Jodie Underwood said, “I can confirm that DEA Vancouver is assisting the RCMP.”

The Star asked Underwood for more details about the DEA’s involvement, and why a U.S. agency would be active in a homicide investigation on the Canadian side of the border, but Underwood said she was “unable to comment on the matter.” Followup emails were not immediately returned.

The Star also asked the RCMP for comment on the DEA’s involvement. Vancouver Island RCMP spokesperson Tammy Douglas did not immediately respond to the Star’s request. No one from the RCMP has responded to multiple phone calls or emails from the Star for more than three weeks about this case.

Dan Archbald, 37, and Ryan Daley, 43, both vanished May 16 after sailing up to Ucluelet, B.C., from Panama. On June 6, after an exhaustive ground search — involving police, search-and-rescue personnel and family members — failed to find any trace of the pair, RCMP labelled the disappearance suspicious and assigned the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crimes Unit to the case.

On June 18, police announced that two bodies had been discovered near Ucluelet by a woman walking her dog. It took authorities nearly two weeks to identify the remains as belonging to Archbald and Daley, and declare their deaths a homicide case.

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Daley and Archbald were last seen in the Ucluelet small-craft harbour parking lot. Carrying large bags and looking nonchalant, they crossed through a security camera’s field of view and were not seen alive again.

Friends and family say they were planning to find a ride to Jordan River, where Daley owns property. They never made it.

According to its website, the U.S. DEA’s mandate is to investigate “major violators of controlled substance laws operating at interstate and international levels.” It also runs a national drug intelligence program in co-operation with foreign officials, targets drug-related gang activity and co-operates on international investigations “beyond local or limited federal jurisdictions and resources.”

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Correction — July 7, 2018: This article has been updated from a previous version that incorrectly stated the proper name of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Jesse Winter is an investigative reporter based in Vancouver. Follow him on Twitter: @jwints This article has been updated from a previous version that incorrectly stated the proper name of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

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