A retired top-level Mountie has portrayed Vancouver as a hub for international crime gangs where law enforcement is rendered impotent by the country’s legal protections.
While warning of the risk of corruption at the highest levels, retired Supt. Calvin Chrustie told B.C.’s inquiry into money laundering that Vancouver could be a setting for an episode of the Netflix series, Narcos.
He scoffed at concern about the lack of convictions and prosecutions — the game was global and hardball: “They’re playing rugby and we come with a badminton racquet.”
“The biggest impediment I would say, legally speaking, is a legal system that is not aligned … not congruent and not supportive of targeting transnational networks. … Our own legal system really precluded us … (from taking) enforcement action here.”
