Two people remain in police custody after a five-month-long drug trafficking investigation in Nanaimo. (File photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

major bust

Two arrested, remain in custody after months-long drug investigation in Nanaimo

Dec 16, 2025 | 9:13 AM

NANAIMO — A man and a woman remain in police custody following a five-month-long investigation into drug trafficking.

Norman Shawn Miller, 44, and Carlene Marie Snedden, 42, were arrested Dec. 10 and remain in custody facing nearly two dozen combined charges connected to an investigation which began in November 2024.

Officers first began looking into the pair and a home where it was believed they were trafficking controlled substances, according to Nanaimo RCMP Reserve Cst. Gary O’Brien, who said officers conducted a raid on a south Nanaimo home in mid-April.

“We’ve taken a lot of dope off the streets, including 52 grams of fentanyl, 25 grams of cocaine, 30 grams of meth, and over 200 pills. Additionally, the firearms that we seized, some of them were prohibited including a Ruger carbine…and hard body armour.

Charges on the pair were officially laid two days before their arrest.

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Miller faces 11 charges, including multiple counts linked to drug trafficking, as well as four firearms charges and possession of stolen property.

His prior criminal history includes being charged with a break and enter in Burns Lake in the early 2000s, as well as a similar incident more recently in Port Alberni which was connected to one of the seized weapons.

Sneddon faces similar accusations, including five counts of fentanyl trafficking and four firearms charges.

She was previously charged with theft under $5,000 in the mid-2000s as well as a handful of minor driving offences.

O’Brien told NanaimoNewsNOW this was an active operation, with officers watching over the pair for five months.

“There’s a significant outplay on this, and how it’s going to impact in the community? That’s what our members will be looking at. It will cause a void, but the sad reality is often these voids are filled in very quickly. The key is who’s going to move into that spot.”

Both are due in court on Wednesday, Dec. 17.

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