One of the gangsters accused in the Surrey Six murders who has been free on bail since 2010 while awaiting trial, is back in jail, facing 20 new drug- and weapons-related charges.
Sophon Sek was charged with manslaughter in 2009 for his involvement leading up to the mass murder of six men in Surrey’s Balmoral Apartment tower in October 2007. Red Scorpion gang members Cody Haevischer and Matthew Johnston were convicted last fall in the execution-style murders of innocent bystanders Christopher Mohan and Ed Schellenberg, as well as Corey Lal, Michael Lal, Eddie Narong and Ryan Bartolomeo, who had connections to the drug trade.
Sek, a triad gang member, was released on bail in early 2010, three months after being charged, and was to adhere to a curfew and remain in the Lower Mainland.
However, last week, a slew of new charges were sworn against Sek, including six drug trafficking charges, six counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking and eight weapon and firearm charges. The offences are alleged to have occurred in Surrey between June and September 2014.
Three others, Mona Khodabandehloo, Daniel Cluett and Glen Hudson, are also facing multiple charges in the case. Their next court date is March 26 in Surrey Provincial Court.
During the trial of Haevischer and Johnston, the court heard that Sek led the two, and a third man who can only be identified as Person X, to the door of Corey Lal, the intended victim in the drug turf feud. Sek had previously supplied Lal and Narong with heroin, testimony revealed. The killers (Sek allegedly left) not only shot Lal inside the apartment suite, but the five other men, to eliminate any witnesses.
Red Scorpion co-founder Michael Le was initially on trial alongside Haevischer and Johnston, but pleaded guilty to manslaughter part way through the trial and testified against his co-accused.
Notorious gangster Jamie Bacon is also scheduled to go to trial in September for Corey Lal’s murder.
A trial date for Sek’s Surrey Six charges has not yet been set.
Haevischer and Johnston have appealed their convictions.
