Pubdate: Sat, 8 Dec 2007
Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB)
Copyright: 2007 The Edmonton Journal
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/134
Author: Duncan Thorne, The Edmonton Journal

POLICE BUST DRUG DEAL 'CONVENIENCE STORE'

Seize Huge Stash of Weapons and Drugs

Two huge seizures of drugs and weapons suggest organized crime is 
increasingly offering one-stop convenience shopping and beefing up 
gang defences, police say.

City police displayed a haul Friday of a wide array drugs from two 
related raids on west-end apartments.

Seized from the gang, which police declined to name, was cocaine, 
ecstasy, marijuana, hash, Tylenol 3s and 4s, morphine sulphate, 
codeine and meth.

Among the weapons were three AK-47 assault rifles, a tear-gas 
grenade, a pump-action shotgun, five handguns, hundreds of rounds of 
ammunition and three bullet-proof vests.

There was also $39,000 in cash and a banknote counting machine.

What's significant about the haul isn't its value, estimated at more 
than $400,000, but the variety of drugs and the extent of the 
weaponry, police said.

"The business of the drug trade is changing," said Acting Staff Sgt. 
Darren Derko.

"It's not that you can just buy cocaine from this guy or marijuana 
from that guy. They are starting to supply their customers with 
whatever they want."

Insp. Gerry Gunn, in charge of the organized-crime drug section, 
called the new approach "the convenience store of drug deals."

Derko said people in the drug trade are now handling so much money 
that they see a need to protect themselves with deadlier weapons.

"If they know that the people they're dealing with are carrying 
weapons, they want to be able to protect themselves as well," he 
said. It's escalating. Now, in order to be involved in the drug trade 
you have to carry a weapon."

He said two of the AK-47s, which have folding stocks, are the same 
type of assault rifle involved in the Dec. 1 drug-related homicide of 
downtown condo resident Wesal Arabi.

"Our (bullet-proof) vests won't stop this gun," he said. "Our police 
vehicle won't stop the bullet."

Six of the guns that police seized Wednesday were taken in 
break-and-enters, he added.

Most recent murders are probably drug-related, Derko said.

Despite the homicides, Gunn said Edmonton's economic boom has brought 
a peace of sorts among rival gangs. He said the demand for drugs is 
so strong that they don't have to compete for customers.

"We had a recent file where we arrested three people in a vehicle 
with three handguns, all known members of different gang 
affiliations," Gunn said.

When the economy eventually starts to fade, the gangs will compete 
more for customers, he said. "That's when we should expect some 
increase in violence." As a result of Wednesday's raids, police 
charged four people with more than 100 offences. 
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