Article content Six people have been charged in connection with a three-year illicit drug trafficking sting in Vancouver. VPD spokesperson Const. Tania Visintin says Project Torque, which began in 2021, targeted a sophisticated organized crime group operating out of Vancouver.
She said since the project began, investigators have seized more than 200 kilograms of illicit drugs, including fentanyl-laced pills disguised as generic Percocet, worth an estimated $16 million. They also seized seven firearms and $500,000 in cash and jewelry. Charged with multiple drug trafficking and/or firearm offences are Omid Mashinchi, 41; Victor Chow, 31; Omid Pakniyat, 24; Josef Tolja, 30; and Amir Navarchi, 39.
Jemina Ortega, 28, has been charged with conspiracy to commit an indictable offence. Mashinchi was previously convicted in the U.S.
of for drug gangs. The former real-estate agent, who leased luxury properties to B.C.
gangsters, was sentenced to two years in jail in Boston in 2018 after admitting to international money laundering. Last year, police searched Mashinchi’s condo at 1011 West Cordova St. and said they found $191,010 in cash, six Rolex watches and one Patek Philippe watch, two necklaces, three bracelets, keys to a Mercedes, a money-counting machine, score sheets for drug trafficking, three cellphones, a cryptocurrency wallet, Mashinchi’s identification, and GPS tracking devices with magnets attached.
In the storage locker for his unit, police found a small amount of fentanyl, more than 78 kilograms of MDMA, more than 15 kilos of methamphetamine, about 11 kilos of powdered cocaine, four handguns, ammunition and drug packaging material. Both Mashinchi and Ortega have been named in in B.C.
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