Barzan Tilli-Choli of Vancouver is charged with two counts of attempted murder.The RCMP and Vancouver police have arrested two men they allege are major players in a notorious Vancouver-area gang blamed for the rash of violence that has plagued B.C. this year.After a lengthy investigation, two members of the United Nations gang, one associate member and two women, were arrested on the weekend and charged with various weapons and murder offences, said police."This is a major strike against the UN gang," said Gary Bass, RCMP deputy commissioner, at a news conference in Vancouver on Tuesday.The alleged gangsters were arrested after a targeted shooting in Surrey, B.C., on Feb. 16.During that attack, a Range Rover stopped at an intersection, when an SUV approached and shots rang out, striking the male driver in the left shoulder.
Police said the 26-year-old man is one of the biggest threats to public safety in the Lower Mainland."We caught the bad guy," Vancouver police Chief Jim Chu said Tuesday."This is a major blow, to the gangs generally, and to the UN gang, specifically."Also charged with attempted murder are Aram Ali, 23, of Vancouver, and Nicola Cottrell, 26, of New Westminster, B.C.Ali is a known associate of the UN gang and Cottrell is linked to Tilli-Choli, police said.Charged with one count of occupying a vehicle knowing there was a firearm in the vehicle is Sarah Jane Trebble, 28, of West Vancouver.Trebble is also associated with Tilli-Choli.Karwan Saed, 32, of Burnaby, B.C., is also charged with being an accessory after the fact to attempted murder. He was described by police Tuesday as a UN gang member.The arrests are the first in what police promise will be a series of gang busts in the next few weeks.
There have been 22 targeted shootings in the Lower Mainland since Jan. 20.Though no one was killed in the Feb. 16 incident, police called it a "significant shooting," and a targeted attack on an associate of the Bacon brothers, notorious B.C. gangsters who are associated with the rival Red Scorpions gang.Less than 12 hours later, a few kilometres away, Nikki Alemy, 23, was shot dead in her Cadillac while her four-year-old son was in the back seat. Alemy's husband has links to the UN gang.Surrey RCMP investigators said the Feb. 16 shooting was part of a larger wave of gang violence across the region, as two violent mid-level groups, the UN gang and the Red Scorpions, fight for territory."The level of violence of these people is astounding," said Insp. Mike Porteous, team leader for the Vancouver police investigation into gang activity.He said police prevented at least 20 other planned attacks through their investigations, which include figuring out who's likely to be the next target of gang violence, then working to thwart it.Supt. Dan Malo, officer in charge of the Integrated Gang Task Force, said Tilli-Choli's arrest will have a significant effect on the UN gang. Tilli-Choli took over the leadership role with the organization after former leader Clay Roueche was arrested in the U.S. for drug smuggling. Roueche is in jail in Seattle awaiting his trial date.
Tilli-Choli, Ali and Cottrell will remain in jail awaiting their bail hearing scheduled for March 10.
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