A high-level drug dealer with operations across B.C. will spend the next seven years and four months in prison after being sentenced in a Kelowna Supreme courtroom for charges of conspiring to traffic illicit substances and weapons possession.
Police became aware of 25-year-old Abd’l Malik Loubissi-Morris while investigating the drive-by shooting of an innocent bystander in Surrey in 2017.
READ MORE: Charges laid in 2017 Surrey drive-by shooting where bullet grazed innocent woman
In 2019, Loubissi-Morris was charged with attempted murder, using a firearm in the commission of an offence, aggravated assault and discharging a firearm with intent for being the driver of the vehicle. In 2021, Loubissi-Morris was sentenced to 46 months in prison after entering a guilty plea for aggravated assault.
Superintendent Elija Rain announces charges against 22-year-old Adb’l Malik Loubissi-Morris of Vancouver in relation to a 2017 shooting where an innocent bystander was struck by a bullet. pic.twitter.com/TmmfHISrs9
— Surrey RCMP (@SurreyRCMP) December 16, 2019
During the police investigations for the shooting, investigators determined that Loubissi-Morris was a high-level drug operator with an apartment in Kelowna.
The police secured a warrant to search the residence and installed secret recording devices. While in the apartment, the police discovered $357,000 worth of drugs, including fentanyl, approximately $100,000 of cash stored in the freezer and multiple guns.
READ MORE: Three Surrey men charged with 15 crimes connected to Kelowna drug seizure
After the seizure of the guns, cash and weapons, and findings from the recording devices were assessed, Loubissi-Morris was charged with 15 drug-related offences.
During the voir-dire for the trial, Loubissi-Morris pleaded guilty to conspiring to traffic illicit substances and weapons possession.
“He acknowledges that he was operating a high-level drug trafficking operation,” said Justice Wilson, the judge of the trial.
Justice Wilson sentenced Loubissi-Morris to 11 years of incarceration for conspiring to traffic and three years for weapons possession, to be served concurrently. The sentence was reduced to seven years and four months when the time already served was taken into account.
“The victim in a drug type of crime is society as a whole,” said Justice Wilson. He said that over the past decade, the sale of fentanyl has altered the landscape of drug use in Canada and has negatively impacted society.
The Crown prosecutor requested a stay of proceedings for the 13 remaining charges.
@Rangers_mom
Jacqueline.Gelineau@kelownacapnews.com
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