A poorly executed drug delivery over the fence at Nanaimo Correctional Centre in May 2023 was intercepted by correctional officers (file photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

failed dope drop

Drugs hidden in tennis ball thrown into Nanaimo prison yard

Oct 24, 2025 | 4:24 PM

NANAIMO — An unsophisticated drug drop bounced back in the face of a Nanaimo man.

Ryan Edward Powell, 32, received a time-served six-month jail sentence in BC Supreme Court in Nanaimo after pleading guilty to a drug trafficking offence on May 23, 2023, at Nanaimo Correctional Centre (NCC).

While outlining the facts on Thursday, Oct. 24, federal crown prosecutor Jenny Rutherford said Powell concealed 2.8 grams of methamphetamine in a tennis ball and tossed it into the NCC prison yard.

The ball also contained a note, rolling papers and tinfoil.

“$220 plus delivery and driver, so call it $500,” the note read.

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Jail guards promptly found the ball.

Powell was seen associated with a suspect vehicle during the day in question near the Brannen Lake institution.

Monitored jailhouse phone calls between Powell and an NCC inmate discussed “the drop” in advance, as well as the failed delivery.

Powell’s fingerprints were lifted from tinfoil located inside the tennis ball.

He was arrested several months later and his cell phone was seized to further advance the police investigation.

Defence attorney Michael Ritzker said his client was in active addiction at the time.

“He planned it while he was in custody, then shortly after he was released, he executed what is plainly an unsophisticated, putting it mildly, scheme that was easily unravelled and detected by authorities,” Ritzker told court.

Ritzker said Powell, who graduated from Nanaimo’s former Woodlands Secondary School, has a construction job lined up in northern B.C.

Justice Robin Baird ordered Powell’s phone to be returned to him as Ritzker stated the device would be an important aspect of his employment.

A 10-year weapons ban and a DNA order were applied to Powell, who has an extensive criminal history over the past several years.

While Powell received a time-served sentence, he remains locked up for other alleged offences.

He’s charged in connection with numerous Nanaimo-based property crimes dating back to late last year and earlier this year.

Court records showed Powell is also accused in a pair of Qualicum Beach break-ins, as well as fleeing Oceanside RCMP last January.

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