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From CTVbc.ca
The alleged leader of a powerful British Columbia gang will remain in detention near Seattle until he appears before a U.S. Federal Court to face drug and money laundering charges in August.
At his bail hearing in Seattle, Tuesday, lawyers acting for Clay Roueche argued that the case against him is based on anonymous sources from another country. They also said he has never been charged or convicted of gang activity.
But after a 30-minute hearing on Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Alice Theiler agreed with prosecutors, who said Roueche poses a flight risk and should be kept in custody at Sea-tac Detention Centre until he is tried.
The alleged leader of the United Nations (UN) Gang, Roueche was arrested in May 19 when he was refused entry into Mexico and put on a plane to Canada that stopped in Dallas.
He is charged with conspiracy to possess cocaine, conspiracy to import marijuana, and conspiracy to engage in money laundering.
To support their argument that Rouche should remain in custody, U.S. government prosecutors pointed to items obtained by RCMP officers during a May search of his Port Coquitlam, B.C., condominium.
They include an illegal hand gun, night vision goggles, handcuffs, pepper spray and a picture of a rival gang member. U.S. government attorneys said in their court subissions that "this constitutes a kit for kidnapping or murder,''
Roueche is allegedly the operational leader as well as the public face of the UN Gang, a multi-national, multi-ethnic drug dealing organization, which originated in B.C.'s Fraser Valley 11 years ago, according to court documents filed in support of the bid to keep him in detention.
U.S. prosecutors say Roueche routinely travels with armed body guards in armored vehicles.
However, he recently entered a plea of not guilty on all of the charges, which have yet to be tested in a court of law
From the date of his arrest to his arrival in Seattle, Roueche made approximately three dozen phone calls from federal facilities, court documents say.
Documents say Oklahoma prison officials realized that he was speaking in code on the phone and so denied him phone privileges.
The UN Gang has been the subject of investigation since 2005 by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Drug Enforcement Administration in the U.S., and in Canada, the Combined Forces Speical Enforcement Unit. (CFSEU).
As a result of the joint investigation, the government's evidence includes nearly two dozen cocaine exporting trips from the U.S. into Canada, and the seizure of three separate cocaine loads (totalling over 200 kilograms, including some stamped UN on the kilogram).
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