Surrey neighbourhood becomes popular dumping ground for murder victims

How did a normally quiet stretch of road in Surrey, B.C., sandwiched between a high-end subdivision, a public golf course and the highway leading south to the U.S. border, become a popular body-dumping ground for gangsters?

Four bodies have turned up beside Colebrook Road near 125A Ave. in less than six weeks, CTV News reports. The discoveries have spooked residents of the semi-rural neighbourhood and frustrated police, who've stepped up patrols in the area.

Just how does a place become gain such gruesome popularity? Is it word-of-mouth or are killers creatures of habit like the rest of us?

Some years ago bodies turned up on a stretch of road a couple of miles from my house. Like Colebrook Rd., it was quiet, home to some berry farms, plant nurseries and light industrial buildings, with no one around at night. The problem stopped when the area was redeveloped; it's big-box stores and high-tech companies now, all bristling with security cameras.

The Toronto Star reported last year that the quiet community of Caledon, about an hour's drive north of Toronto, has become a popular dumping ground for the victims of Greater Toronto's gang wars. Seven have been dumped or left for dead over four years.

Ontario Provincial Police didn't think there were links between the cases. The killers just seemed to have been drawn to the area's dense forests and little-travelled unpaved, unlit roads, the Star said.

[ Related: Surrey's mayor 'very concerned' about recent spate of murders, crime ]

Surrey, a sprawling suburb south and east of Vancouver, is home to rival drug gangs who've stepped up tit-for-tat killings in recent months.

The first body turned up on Colebrook Rd. in January, followed by another the following month. The first, was identified as 26-year-old Jaskaran Sandhu, and the second, found burned near the Delta Golf Course, was 29-year-old Amritpal Saran.

Longtime Vancouver Sun gang-beat reporter Kim Bolan noted Sandhu had gang links and had survived a previous shooting attempt. Saran apparently had no formal gang ties but numerous run-ins with police, including being charged with assaulting a peace officer.

Then this week, two more bodies were discovered by RCMP who had increased their patrols. An officer spotted a man lying by the side of the road around 2 a.m. Wednesday. A search by dog teams later found a woman's body. Police have not yet identified them and don't know if the two are linked, CTV News said.

Surrey Mayor Diane Watts drove by the crime scene Wednesday and met with residents of the nearby affluent neighbourhood dotted with view homes and horse-riding acreages, the Sun said.

“We are just going to have a conversation with more neighbours in the area and let them know and get some feedback from them,” Watts said. “We are putting together a plan in the area. We are looking at lighting, additional patrols, as well as cameras.”

[ More Brew: Luka Magnotta loses lawyer in potential conflict of interest ]

Resident Shari MacFarlane, who's lived in the area 11 years and regularly rides her horse along Colebrook Rd., said she feels completely safe.

“They are people involved in bad activities and this just happens to be a remote spot to dump," she told the Sun. "But it’s very eerie."

But resident Bob Campbell told CKNW News the area has experienced drive-by shootings and killings, and many no longer feel like MacFarlane.

"Our citizens are really scared," he said Wednesday. "We had one citizen send us a letter this morning, that was actually copied [to] the solicitor general saying, 'Help us.'

"And people in this area who walk their dogs at night, who go in the park ... we love it for what it is, but you can't do that, because what if you're there when someone is dragging a body out of a car and you're walking your dog?"

Balbir Gellen, who lives on nearby Panorama Ridge, said police need to step up surveillance of the area and perhaps restrict traffic to only local residents.

"They have to control all that and catch the people who are doing it," he said. "The people living in the neighbourhood can’t stop it and they have no control over it.”