Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel linked to Surrey drug traffickers, B.C. lawsuit alleges

The Sinaloa drug cartel worked closely with three Surrey men in an attempt to smuggle large amounts of cocaine from Mexico to Canada last year, the B.C. government is alleging.

Details of the unsuccessful drug operation are laid out in a B.C. civil forfeiture lawsuit filed Tuesday against James Sclater, Hector Chavez-Anchondo and John Whalen Jr., who lived together in a luxurious Surrey house raided by the RCMP last September.

Sclater owns the house at 16767 77th Ave., which is assessed at more than $2.2 million. It was already the subject of a civil forfeiture case when the new lawsuit was filed Tuesday.

The B.C. government agency also wants six vehicles, a 1950 vintage Ford, four motorcycles — three of which are customized — and an Azure boat forfeited as proceeds of crime, along with jewelry and more than $15,000 in cash.

The lawsuit alleges the three men “are members of, and co-conspirators within, the same drug trafficking organization,” which the lawsuit calls a DTO.

“The DTO used and uses violence, or the threat of violence, to achieve its aims,” the director of civil forfeiture alleged, adding that the unnamed gang traffics ketamine, methamphetamine, alprazolam, oxycodone, MDMA and fentanyl, among other controlled substances.

Since June 2021, Sclater, Chavez-Anchondo and Whalen Jr. “have conspired and have attempted to import into Canada and distribute bulk cocaine from Mexico.”

“As part of these efforts, the DTO has agreed to, and made arrangements to, purchase the cocaine from the Cártel de Sinaloa (‘Sinaloa Cartel’) in Mexico,” the lawsuit said, noting that “the Sinaloa Cartel is a terrorist entity, and the government of Canada listed it as such on 20 Feb. 2025.”

The group’s smuggling efforts were delayed after Sclater was treated for cancer, the director said.

“As Mr. Sclater’s health improved, the DTO renewed its efforts to import and distribute cocaine. These efforts included negotiating with head of the Sinaloa Cartel, Ismael Garcia,” who is known as El Mayo.

The group hit another roadblock when El Mayo was arrested last July by U.S. law enforcement.

“Following El Mayo’s arrest, the DTO commenced negotiations with other parties, known only to the members of the DTO and unknown to the plaintiff, towards the importation and distribution of cocaine in Canada,” the director alleged in his 18-page case.

Each of the three defendants “contributed money on behalf of the DTO, which money was paid to the unknown party to secure the drug shipment,” the case said.