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It started with a huge hash bust.

Following up on a tip, the RCMP set up a stakeout and pounced when a freight truck left a warehouse on Mitchell Island in Richmond.

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The haul: six tonnes of hashish (a drug made from the resin of cannabis), wrapped in cellophane and carefully packed in wooden boxes.

More concerning — the traffickers’ books showed it was the tail end of a 40-tonne shipment with a wholesale value of more than $140 million.

The RCMP did not know it at the time — and would not find out until a couple of years later, when the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration corralled a major drug-trafficking kingpin — that the hash shipment was part of a global cartel that had profits of $165 million a year.

Even after being arrested in the warehouse bust, the B.C. ringleader, George (Lorry) Burden, sold off 20 tonnes of the shipment already stashed in B.C.

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The cash proceeds from the drugs were laundered in part in real estate in the Lower Mainland: at least seven houses worth more than $7 million.