Two Chilliwack drug dealers were busted in Banff National Park on Monday after they attempted to flee a traffic stop.
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| Antonio Dillan Nolasco-Padia |
Antonio Nolasco-Padia, 23, and Dina Anthony, 55, are both well-known to RCMP in the Fraser Valley, but this week were in Alberta when they were stopped on Highway 1 within the national park.
Nolasco-Padia and Anthony fled the scene, travelled south on Highway 40 into the Kannanaskis area before heading west to Canmore.
Alberta RCMP report that members from Banff, Canmore and Kannanaskis RCMP were involved attempting to stop the vehicle using a spike belt. Calgary Police Service Helicopter Air Watch for Community Safety and RCMP Police Dog Services also responded.
“Police were successful in deploying a spike belt west of Dead Man’s Flats,” according to an RCMP press release. “The male suspect then drove the disabled vehicle into oncoming traffic, where he attempted to steal another vehicle by force. Moments later, the suspect was apprehended by RCMP Police Dog Services. The female passenger in the suspect vehicle was arrested without further incident.”
During the subsequent search of the vehicle, police seized approximately 50 tablets of suspected fentanyl, 30 grams of methamphetamine, five grams of cocaine along with a loaded, prohibited handgun.
The two face a total of 20 charges including possession of a prohibited firearm, possession of methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine for the purposes of trafficking as well as robbery of a motor vehicle with violence.
Nolasco-Padia appeared in Canmore Provincial Court on Sept. 18 and was remanded into custody. He is set to appear again Oct. 9. Anthony was released from custody and is set to appear in Canmore Provincial Court on Oct. 16.
Nolasco-Padia was in the news in 2017 when a provincewide warrant was issued for his arrest after a search of a property on the south side of the city in August 18, 2017 turned up four kilograms of cocaine, as well as heroin, fentanyl, $130,000 in cash along with firearms.
After the search, 23-year-old Lucas Benjamin Thiessen was arrested and charged, eventually being sentenced to 8.75 years in jail in November 2018. Nolasco-Padia was charged with just one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking, and was sentenced to time served after pleading guilty.
• READ MORE: Chilliwack Mounties say they are making a difference with drug traffickers
As for Anthony, she was the co-accused with three others in a heroin dial-a-dope operation in Chilliwack along with Jamie Leanne Rogers, Bryan Leslie Schapansky and Constantinos “Gus” Anthony. Schapansky was sentenced to two years in jail earlier this year.
• READ MORE: Chilliwack drug dealer sentenced to two years jail
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