Crime
Letter Shows Biden Administration Privately Warned B.C. on Fentanyl Threat Years Before Patel’s Public Bombshells
Fentanyl super lab busted in BC
In recent interviews with Joe Rogan and Fox News, FBI Director Kash Patel alleged that Vancouver has become a global hub for fentanyl production and export—part of a transnational network linking Chinese Communist Party-associated suppliers and Mexican drug cartels, and exploiting systemic weaknesses in Canada’s border enforcement. “What they’re doing now … is they’re shipping that stuff not straight [into the United States],” Patel told Rogan, citing classified intelligence. “They’re having the Mexican cartels now make this fentanyl down in Mexico still, but instead of going right up the southern border and into America, they’re flying it into Vancouver. They’re taking the precursors up to Canada, manufacturing it up there, and doing their global distribution routes from up there because we’ve been so effective down south.”
His comments prompted a public response from B.C. Premier David Eby’s top cop, Solicitor General Garry Begg, who disputed the scale of the allegations.
Controversially, Patel also asserted that Washington believes Beijing is intentionally targeting the United States with fentanyl to harm younger generations—especially for strategic purposes.
But a diplomatic letter obtained exclusively by The Bureau supports the view that high-level U.S. concerns—nearly identical to Patel’s—were privately raised by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken two years earlier.
The Blinken letter suggests that these concerns were already being voiced at the highest levels of U.S. diplomacy and intelligence in 2023—under a Democratic administration—which counters a widespread misperception in Canadian political and media spheres that the Trump administration has distorted facts about Vancouver’s role in global fentanyl trafficking logistics.
In a letter dated May 25, 2023, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote to Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West, thanking him for participating in a fentanyl-focused roundtable at the Cities Summit of the Americas in Denver. According to West, only several mayors were invited to discuss the FBI’s strategic focus on transnational organized crime and fentanyl trafficking—an indication of the summit’s targeted focus on British Columbia. “Thank you for discussing your city’s experiences with synthetic opioids and providing valuable lessons learned we can share throughout the region,” Blinken wrote.
The letter suggested U.S. officials were not only increasingly seeing Canadian municipalities as critical partners in a hemispheric fight against synthetic drug trafficking, but viewed Mayor West as a trusted partner in British Columbia.
West told The Bureau that Blinken privately expressed the same controversial and jarring assessment that Patel later made publicly—essentially arguing that the U.S. government had assessed that China is intentionally weaponizing fentanyl against North America, and that Chinese Communist Party-linked networks are strategically operating in concert with Latin cartels.
According to The Bureau’s reporting, Blinken described growing frustration among U.S. federal agencies over Canada’s legal and enforcement deficiencies. He pointed to what American officials saw as systemic obstacles in Canadian law that made it difficult to act on intelligence involving fentanyl production, chemical precursor shipments, and laundering operations tied to cartel and CCP-linked actors.
West told The Bureau that the U.S. government was alarmed that a major money laundering investigation in British Columbia—targeting the notorious Sam Gor synthetic narcotics syndicate, which collaborates with Mexican cartels in Western Hemisphere fentanyl trafficking and money laundering, according to U.S. experts—had collapsed in Canadian court proceedings. The Bureau has confirmed with a Canadian police veteran that this investigation originated from U.S. government intelligence.
West, a vocal critic of Canada’s handling of transnational organized crime, said U.S. agencies had begun withholding sensitive intelligence, citing a lack of confidence in Canada’s ability—or willingness—to act on it.
Blinken also framed the crisis in a broader hemispheric context, noting that while national leaders met at the Ninth Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles to address the shared challenges facing the region, it was city leaders who served at the forefront of tackling those threats.
Patel’s recent public statements—which singled out Vancouver as a production hub and described air and sea trafficking routes into the U.S.—have revived the debate around Canada’s role in the opioid crisis. U.S. experts, such as former senior DEA investigator Donald Im, argue that northern border seizure statistics do not capture the majority of fentanyl activity emanating from Canada as monitored by U.S. law enforcement.
Im cited, for example, the case of Arden McCann, a Montreal man indicted in the Northern District of Georgia and accused of mailing synthetic opioids—including fentanyl, carfentanil, U-47700, and furanyl fentanyl—from Canada and China into the United States. According to the indictment, McCann—also known as “The Mailman” and “Dr. Xanax”—trafficked quantities capable of causing mass casualty events. He was later sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for operating a dark web narcotics network that, between 2015 and 2020, distributed fentanyl to 49 states and generated more than $10 million in revenue.
As part of that investigation, the DEA reported that Canadian authorities seized approximately two million counterfeit Xanax pills, five pill presses, alprazolam powder, 3,000 MDMA pills, more than $200,000 in cash, 15 firearms, ballistic vests, and detailed drug ledgers. The ledgers showed that McCann and his co-conspirators purchased alprazolam from suppliers in China, pressed the powder into counterfeit Xanax pills, and sold the product to U.S. buyers via dark web marketplaces.
Quick Hit:
Florida authorities have recovered 60 “critically missing” children in a two-week operation across the Tampa Bay area. The joint state and federal effort, dubbed Operation Dragon Eye, led to eight arrests and uncovered new human trafficking investigations.
Key Details:
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The children, aged 9 to 17, were found across Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco counties. The operation was carried out with help from the U.S. Marshals, state prosecutors, and local police departments.
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Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier confirmed eight individuals were arrested on charges including human trafficking, child endangerment, and drug-related offenses. Additional investigations are underway.
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The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) hailed the operation as the most successful child recovery effort in U.S. history, declaring, “Florida doesn’t look the other way — we hunt predators and bring kids home.”
🚨 MAJOR BREAKING: U.S. Marshals and Florida officials announce LARGEST single child rescue operation in American history.
Over 2 weeks, 60 KIDS are safe, in custody.
This involved over 20 agencies and 100+ people. 8 people were arrested, charged with human trafficking, child… pic.twitter.com/trkcFMhtmX
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) June 23, 2025
Diving Deeper:
Over a two-week span, law enforcement agencies across Florida joined forces for what’s being called a historic child recovery mission. Dubbed Operation Dragon Eye, the coordinated effort led to the rescue of 60 critically missing children—some as young as 9 years old—in the Tampa Bay region, including Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco counties.
According to Fox 13, federal and state agencies worked alongside local law enforcement, with direct involvement from the U.S. Marshals Service and Florida prosecutors. The term “critically missing,” as defined by the Marshals Service, applies to minors facing heightened threats such as exposure to violent crime, sexual exploitation, substance abuse, or domestic violence.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier praised the operation’s success in a statement posted to social media Monday. “We will keep fighting evil head-on and bringing accountability to those who harm children,” he said, confirming eight suspects had been taken into custody, with additional investigations now underway related to human trafficking networks.
Charges filed against the arrested individuals include human trafficking, child endangerment, custodial interference, and drug possession.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement described the effort as “the most successful missing child recovery operation in American history.” In a statement, the agency said its analysts and field agents “were proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with the U.S. Marshals” and emphasized that “Florida doesn’t look the other way.”
Several nonprofits and local support groups played a vital role in caring for the recovered children, including More Too Life, the Children’s Home Network, Bridging Freedom, Bridges of Hope, Family Support Services of Pasco and Pinellas, and Redefining Refuge.
Dr. Katherine Gomez of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice said many of these children had felt hopeless and alone. “Oftentimes these young people have felt like there’s no one in their corner. They feel abandoned… like they have to look out for themselves because no one else will,” she told WFLA.
FDLE Commissioner Mark Glass acknowledged the emotional toll such operations take on officers, who are exposed to the trauma these children endure. “They have to see everything that happens to these children, and we need to pray for them because they had to take that burden home,” he said.
Glass added that while the operation struck a major blow to human trafficking in the region, the threat remains. “The fight isn’t over.”
U.S. Marshal Bill Berger of the Middle District of Florida warned that traffickers often return to their victims if not apprehended. “If the offenders are not apprehended, they will reconnect with these children. They are, in my opinion, leeches,” Berger stated.
Officials vowed continued vigilance to keep predators behind bars and ensure every vulnerable child is found and protected.
Quick Hit:
After years of denial and political cover-ups, the UK government has formally acknowledged a disturbing link between Pakistani-heritage men and child grooming gangs. A scathing new review has prompted Prime Minister Keir Starmer to reverse course and launch a full national inquiry into the widespread abuse.
Key Details:
- The Casey Review found “clear evidence” of Pakistani men’s overrepresentation in grooming gangs and accused authorities of ignoring the abuse to avoid accusations of racism.
- Home Secretary Yvette Cooper confirmed over 800 historic child sex abuse cases will be reopened and prosecuted where possible.
- The Labour Party and Prime Minister Starmer were previously opposed to a national inquiry, with critics calling this reversal a politically motivated “smokescreen.”
Diving Deeper:
The British government has finally acknowledged a link between Pakistani-heritage men and the grooming gang epidemic that has plagued communities across England for decades. The admission comes following the release of a damning public review led by Baroness Louise Casey, which uncovered years of institutional failure, racial sensitivity, and political cowardice.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper presented the findings in Parliament, confirming that the Casey Review had “identified clear evidence of over-representation among suspects of Asian and Pakistani-heritage men.” She condemned the systematic rape of vulnerable girls—some as young as 10—and the authorities’ “unforgivable” failure to act.
“The sexual exploitation of children by grooming gangs is one of the most horrific crimes,” Cooper said, noting that too many warnings had been ignored over the last 15 years. She announced that the government would adopt all of Baroness Casey’s recommendations and reopen more than 800 historic cases.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who previously dismissed calls for a national inquiry as “far-right misinformation,” abruptly changed course over the weekend and agreed to a full inquiry with legal authority to compel testimony. This reversal followed mounting pressure from campaigners like Dame Jasvinder Sanghera, Elon Musk, and Reform UK’s Nigel Farage.
Labour MP Sarah Champion, once ousted for raising alarms about Pakistani grooming gangs in her Rotherham constituency, welcomed the inquiry. “There’s a real sense justice has not been handed out fairly,” she said, accusing officials of failing victims for fear of “causing offense.”
The Casey review also pointed to illegal immigration as a contributing factor and called for mandatory ethnicity data collection in child exploitation cases. Critics argue that authorities in Labour-run areas turned a blind eye to the abuse—some allegedly in exchange for votes—treating white working-class girls as expendable while shielding perpetrators.
Former detective and grooming whistleblower Maggie Oliver expressed skepticism, warning that unless the inquiry is led by Baroness Casey, it risks becoming another whitewash. “This is about gross criminal neglect at the top of policing, at the top of government, at the top of social services,” Oliver said.
While the inquiry marks a long-overdue step toward accountability, some warn it may be politically perilous for Starmer. As former head of the Crown Prosecution Service, he held a central role when many of these abuses first surfaced. And with many of the cover-ups tied to Labour councils, the fallout could deepen public distrust in the party.
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