Pubdate: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 Source: Daily Herald-Tribune, The (CN AB) Copyright: 2003 The Daily Herald-Tribune Contact: http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/804 NATIVE GANGS PROLIFERATE IN CITIES EDMONTON (CP) - Aboriginal gangs that were once mainly in Prairie prisons are now thriving outside, armed and trafficking hard drugs, a national policing agency says The Criminal Intelligence Service Canada says in a report that native gangs are particularly active in cities such as Edmonton, Regina and Winnipeg. ''Aboriginal-based gangs that once existed primarily in prisons for protection purposes have now recognized the financial benefit of trafficking hard drugs (such as cocaine) on reserves," the agency says. ''Many of the gangs have ready access to weapons, including firearms, that has resulted in a number of incidents of violence.'' Native gangs have a smaller presence outside the Prairies, but their numbers will increase nationally as they become more entrenched in urban areas and on reserves, actively recruiting new members and associates among native youth, the agency says. Native gangs are considered a "low-level criminal threat," mostly involved in street-level drug trafficking, but their members are branching out, the report says. They are moving increasingly into prostitution, property crimes, tobacco smuggling, home invasions, weapon offences, illegal gambling, as well as debt collection and enforcement for other organized crime groups like the Hells Angels. Asian gangs, already entrenched in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario, are becoming increasingly active in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec and Atlantic Canada, the agency says. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens