People in the Middlegate area of Burnaby were surprised to see an armoured vehicle and officers in tactical gear carrying assault rifles and converging on a house on Balmoral Street Wednesday afternoon.
At about 1:20 p.m., Burnaby resident Elias Ishak was at the A&W on Kingsway with the friend, when the pair looked over and saw officers in the alley advancing on the back yard of the house next door.
“There were around five guys in beige – their guns were beige; they had beige helmets,” Ishak said. “They were going over the fence into the backyard, and they definitely had fully automatic assault rifles.”
At the front, Ishak said he saw many more officers and an armoured vehicle descending on the house.
As he was leaving, he said he heard two loud bangs.
“I thought I was in like a movie,” Ishak said.
Burnaby RCMP confirmed its drug unit, with help from the Lower Mainland District Emergency Response Team, had executed a search warrant at a residence in the 6500-block of Balmoral St. Wednesday.
Three Burnaby residents – two men aged 27 and 52, and a 23-year-old woman – were arrested and later released, according to Burnaby RCMP Cpl. Daniela Panesar.
“No charges have been laid as the investigation is ongoing,” she said in an email to the NOW.
