British Columbia's illegal marijuana industry will be dealt a heavy economic blow if Californians vote to legalize pot Tuesday, says a criminology professor who has studied the effect of B.C. bud for more than a decade. Darryl Plecas, criminology professor at the University of the Fraser Valley and director of the Centre for Criminal Justice Research, predicts that decriminalizing pot in California would have a significant economic impact on the illegal trade of B.C. marijuana -- and would weaken organized crime groups. [continues 317 words]
Could Weaken Gangs: Expert British Columbia's illegal marijuana industry will be dealt a heavy economic blow if Californians vote to legalize pot Tuesday, says a criminology professor who has studied the effect of B.C. bud for more than a decade. Darryl Plecas, criminology professor at the University of the Fraser Valley, predicts that decriminalizing pot in California would have a significant economic impact on the illegal trade of B.C. marijuana -- and would weaken organized crime groups. "The single biggest fuel for organized crime in B.C. is grow-ops," says Plecas. "It's hard to imagine it could not have some significant impact." [continues 461 words]
Legalizing Pot South of Border Likely to Put Big Dent in Trade of Locally Grown Bud, Says Criminologist B.C.'s illegal marijuana industry will be dealt a heavy economic blow if Californians vote to legalize pot in the Golden State on Tuesday, says a criminology professor who has studied the impact of B.C. bud for more than a decade. Darryl Plecas, criminology professor at the University of Fraser Valley and director of the Centre for Criminal Justice Research, says decriminalizing pot in California would have a huge economic impact on the illegal trade of B.C. bud -- and would weaken organized-crime groups. [continues 577 words]
An eight-month probe into two Vancouver pot "brokers" has culminated in the arrests of four people and seizure of two cars, a house and more than $100,000 in cash. Vancouver police revealed the details of "Project Trapdoor" on Thursday, saying the bust had made a significant impact on the local drug trade. "Anecdotally, we can say it created a significant gap in the organization and distribution of marijuana among certain groups. There was an immediate effect felt on the street, particularly with some groups that were moving large amounts of marijuana," said Sgt. Brad Desmarais, who works with the gangs and drug section. [continues 426 words]
Police Say They Could Become Caught In Gang-Warfare Crossfire Abbotsford Police Chief Bob Rich warned yesterday that even high-school kids involved at the lowest levels of drug dealing may be targets of gang violence. The warning comes in the wake of four killings of young men in Abbotsford over the past two months, including two high-school students. Police believe all four men were targeted for their perceived associations to the notorious Bacon brothers and their Red Scorpion gang. [continues 491 words]
Wants Senate To Ratify Arms Treaty U.S. President Barack Obama's push to crack down on weapons smuggling is an encouraging move that could help B.C.'s war on drugs, according to a B.C. political science professor. But others aren't so sure and say Obama's announcement is nothing more than "smoke and mirrors." Last week, Obama backed Mexico's war on its violent drug cartels, calling for a crackdown on weapons trafficking and admitting shared responsibility. [continues 453 words]
Downtown Eastside Facility Aims to Stop the Cycle of Chronic Offending, Provide Remedial Services Each day, Judge Thomas Gove drives along East Hastings Street, where the battered lives of strung-out drug addicts, desperate prostitutes and drunken men exist in plain view. Of course, the judge doesn't have to take this route to work. "I could avoid going through the area," he says. "But I don't, because it's important to remind myself that this is a problem happening right on the streets -- and we've got to do something about it." [continues 953 words]
Red Hook was once to Brooklyn what the Downtown Eastside is to Vancouver. The waterfront neighbourhood was known for poverty and drug-fuelled violence throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In 1988, Life magazine described it as one of the most crack-infested neighbourhoods in the U.S. -- a reputation that was solidified in 1992, when a popular elementary school principal was caught in crossfire between rival gangs and shot dead. The death of Patrick Daly is widely believed to be the reason Red Hook established a community court eight years ago. [continues 394 words]
Data Not Keeping Pace With Gang Growth Police are handcuffed in fighting gangs because they simply don't have enough information on the burgeoning number of criminal organizations, experts say. There has been no comprehensive research done on gangs in B.C. in the past several years, even though academic experts acknowledge the gang landscape has changed dramatically since the 1990s -- the last time any research was undertaken. "[In the 1980s and 1990s] there were more easily-identifiable, named groups and they were very much strutting their stuff in the manner of Hollywood movies," said Robert Gordon, a criminology professor at Simon Fraser University. [continues 567 words]
Mother's Trip Stopped Over Old Conviction Glendene Grant should have been in Las Vegas last week, meeting with investigators about her missing daughter, whom she fears fell prey to human traffickers. Instead, she's at home in Kamloops after being denied entry to the U.S. over a 21-year-old drug conviction. "I haven't unpacked my bags. I have to get back down there," Grant said through tears on Friday. Since Grant's daughter, Jessie Foster, went missing in Las Vegas more than a year ago, the Kamloops mother has made three trips to the city to search for her daughter. [continues 504 words]
U.S. Border Guard Googled Vancouver Psychotherapist Andrew Feldmar, a Vancouver psychotherapist, took his first hit of acid in 1967 at the age of 27. He took his last seven years later. Anyone can learn this within minutes of doing a Google search of Feldmar's name -- personal information he says he'll never divulge online again after learning the hard way that it can, and will, be used against you. The 66-year-old is now barred from entering the U.S. after a border guard did a Web search last summer and read about Feldmar's experimental drug use from more than three decades ago. [continues 339 words]
Three Injured: Expert Says Feuding Parties Still Have Scores To Settle A shootout in a Richmond park last week is believed to be the beginning of vengeful score-settling over long-standing feuds between gangs in the Lower Mainland. A police source has told The Province that several groups in the Lower Mainland are currently hunting each other down over a number of prior incidents, a development that could lead to more violence in public places. The gunfire at Richmond's Dover Park last Thursday left three young men in their late 20s to early 30s seriously wounded. Some witnesses described hearing as many as 20 to 30 shots and bullets hit multiple homes. [continues 475 words]
A 30-year-old U.S. customs and border-patrol officer has been charged with helping smugglers sneak pot past the border in return for cash and sexual favours. Desmone Bastian, who lives in Surrey, was arrested last Thursday on a warrant charging him with receiving a bribe and importation of a controlled substance. The indictment filed in U.S. District Court alleges that Bastian deliberately failed to inspect vehicles entering the U.S. at the Blaine border crossing on Feb. 5, 2005, in return for cash and sexual favours. [continues 115 words]
Boat Allegedly Contained 210 Kg Of Ecstasy A gambling debt -- and the prospect of receiving a cash payment of $200,000 -- allegedly drove a Vancouver man to smuggle 210 kilograms of ecstasy from B.C. to Washington this month. That was the story Ka Wai Andy Cheung gave to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on Oct. 20, shortly after his arrest in Washington, according to court documents. Cheung, along with three Vancouver men, are now facing drug-smuggling charges laid by U.S. federal prosecutors in Seattle. [continues 359 words]
Gang Membership Looks Good on TV but Not in Reality: Police Surrey RCMP have launched a girls-only after-school program to help girls stay away from gangs, drugs and crime. Rosie Thakar, the diversity co-ordinator for the Surrey RCMP, initiated the program for girls aged 12 to 17. They meet once a week for 1 1/2 hours and play sports or meet guest speakers to discuss issues important to teens. Surrey RCMP spokesman Roger Morrow said police want to do anything they can to educate teens on criminal activity, especially on youth gangs, which TV can glorify. [continues 220 words]
Border Guard Violated Sacred Trust, Said Judge Altaf Merali, the former Canadian customs officer who tried to smuggle nearly 100 kilograms of marijuana into Washington state in May, was sentenced to 18 months in jail on Friday. The 37-year-old father of two young boys was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release in B.C. following the jail term. In handing Merali the sentence in U.S. District Court in Seattle, Judge Ricardo Martinez said: "You were one of the few individuals trusted to protect the border between our countries and you violated that trust." [continues 117 words]
A Vernon man so fed up with drugs in his neighbourhood that he fought hammer-to-axe with a suspected drug dealer is sporting eight stitches for his efforts. The brawl began at about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday when the man, a tenant in the 1800-block 32nd Street, became angry at a suspected drug dealer coming through the fence by his apartment to deliver drugs to other residents. Tired of the frequent traffic past his home, the 32-year-old confronted the alleged dealer and told him to leave. [continues 190 words]
Promoter Says He Doesn't Do Pot, But Objects To U.S. Tactics After Winona, Martha and Michael, you knew there was no way of avoiding it: The T-shirt was inevitable. And sure enough, just six days after the arrest of Marc Emery, there it was on the Internet. Costing from $13.50 to $20, supporters of the Prince of Pot can get their pick of tees emblazoned with the phrase: "My Seed Supplier Was Extradited To The USA And All I Got Was This Stupid T-shirt!" [continues 137 words]
Prince Of Pot: Calls His Fight Against Extradition 'Ultimate Moment Of My Career' Marc Emery Is Closing In On Marijuana Mission Accomplished. As the longtime pot activist braces for his fight against extradition to the U.S. -- something he calls "the ultimate moment of my career" -- he credits the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency for giving him the platform of a lifetime for his crusade to legalize marijuana. "They might have made me into something bigger than anything I could accomplish on my own," he says. "I get the ultimate opportunity to represent my people." [continues 545 words]
Police Seize 164 Ecstasy Tablets, Three Grams Of Meth Thirteen people -- including five young offenders -- were arrested at the Fusion Dreams rave party at the Pacific Coliseum Saturday night after undercover police seized 84 ecstasy tablets, three grams of crystal meth and $2,300 in cash. The arrests resulted in 20 charges of trafficking and possession for the purposes of trafficking. Those arrested range in age from 14 to 51. "You'll often see 40- or 50-year-old drug dealers here selling ecstacy tablets," said Vancouver police spokesman Const. Howard Chow. [continues 292 words]
SEATTLE -- Altaf Merali, the Canadian customs officer accused of smuggling 100 kilograms of pot across the border, was released on bail yesterday after his mom paid a $50,000 US bond. Merali's family -- his wife Jennifer, mother, brother, a cousin who is Canadian counsel to Uganda, and two friends -- drove from B.C. to U.S. District Court in Seattle for his bail hearing. "Given Mr. Merali is very close to his family, I cannot think of any reason Mr. Merali wouldn't come to court because he knows he'd lose his mother's money and all ties to his family," defence lawyer Paula Deutsch told the court. [continues 309 words]
Neighbours are shocked that customs officer Altaf Merali, the local Block Watch captain, has been charged with smuggling pot. "He's a great guy," said a man who lives a few doors down from Merali on 150A Street in Surrey. "He had a barbecue for all the neighbours. He's the Block Watch captain. He'd be out here walking at night making sure everyone's home is OK." Said another neighbour: "It's a real shock to us. He was one of the most social ones here." [continues 175 words]
Smuggler Claims He Was Forced To Carry Drugs By Indo-Canadian Gang A Canadian Customs officer busted for smuggling pot says he was forced to do it by an Indo-Canadian gang that threatened to hurt his family. Altaf Merali, 37, of Surrey was arrested at the Pacific Highway crossing with more than 90 kilograms of marijuana worth an estimated $680,000 US, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Merali pulled up at the border on Tuesday in a 1992 GMC Safari, with his uniform hanging in the rear window, according to the court papers. [continues 489 words]
Police Outrage: Baby Found In Drug Bust Vancouver police were disturbed to find a three-week-old baby and a four-year-old child living in a drug transfer house on Wednesday when investigators executed a search warrant and arrested the mother. The woman, who lived in the 6600-block Elliot Street, is facing three counts of possession for the purposes of trafficking and three counts of proceeds of crime. Const. Howard Chow of the Vancouver police said they are finding more and more young children living inside homes involved in the drug trade. "They're disturbed by the fact that there are children and families living in these units while they're involved in this level of crime with drugs," said Chow. [continues 262 words]
Nineteen grow-ops have been busted in a well-manicured, 90-unit Richmond townhome complex this month, resulting in the seizure of 1,350 plants. "This is clearly an example of what the grow-op industry is developing into," said Richmond RCMP Cpl. Peter Thiessen. "It's in every corner of where we live." The investigation was sparked by a home invasion on March 10 when three masked gunmen busted into a Cranberry Lane townhome in the 22200-block of Sharpe Avenue. A 38-year-old woman and 45-year-old man, were held at gunpoint as one of the gunmen ran upstairs and then yelled, "We've got the wrong place." The trio apologized and left. [continues 139 words]
VANCOUVER --A prolific pot pipeline that allegedly smuggled thousands of kilograms of B.C. bud into Washington state has been busted after a year-long investigation by U.S. investigators. Seventeen people have been arrested in the past week -- including five Wednesday -- by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Drug Enforcement Administration. At least 11 face charges of conspiracy to import and distribute marijuana and conspiracy to engage in money laundering. The charges faced by the remaining six arrested have not been disclosed. [continues 246 words]
More Than 1,350 Kilograms Of Marijuana And $1.8 Million US Seized A pot pipeline that allegedly smuggled thousands of kilograms of B.C. bud into Washington has been busted after a year-long investigation by U.S. investigators. Seventeen people have been arrested in the past week -- five of them yesterday -- by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Drug Enforcement Administration. At least 11 people face charges of conspiracy to import and distribute marijuana and conspiracy to engage in money laundering. The charges the remaining six people face have not been disclosed. [continues 495 words]
City Getting 'Innovative' In Grow-Op Fight Forget the police. The new frontier of pot busting in Abbotsford comes in the form of firefighters, building inspectors and bylaw officers. With an estimated 700 grow-ops in residential neighbourhoods and an overwhelmed police force, the city has decided it's time to get innovative with their crime-fighting strategies, said Coun. Bruce Beck, a member of the city's grow-op task force. In a proposed 90-day pilot project, the task force wants to test out the effectiveness of using firefighters, thermal imaging techniques and tips from the public to identify grow-ops. [continues 226 words]
When a prostitute is found dead in a corn field and grow-ops are setting up shop two doors down from the police chief's home, you know something just ain't right with suburbia. But this is the new reality for Abbotsford as urbanization trudges into town, hauling with it big-city crime. "There's no doubt our crime rate has gone up," said Abbotsford police Chief Ian Mackenzie. "Last year, our crime rate was 120 Criminal Code offences per 1,000 people. And back in about 2000, it was 90 Criminal Code offences per 1,000 people." [continues 427 words]
Mothers Of Dead Boys Had Hoped For A Precedent A young Langley man was convicted yesterday of dangerous driving causing the deaths of two 16-year-old passengers, but was acquitted of driving under the influence of marijuana. The verdict, delivered in Surrey Provincial Court, was a disappointment for the victims' families, who said the law needs to be changed to make it easier to convict drivers impaired by pot. "We were hoping that this would be a precedent-setting case and that the laws would be changed," said Helen Featherston, who lost her son Simon in the crash two years ago. "We don't want our sons to have died in vain and we were hoping this would create a new way to proceed." [continues 428 words]
Why is it so difficult to convict someone for impairment by marijuana? Under Section 253 of the Criminal Code, a driver can be charged for operating a vehicle while impaired by alcohol or a drug. There is also an additional offence set out for alcohol, making it an offence to drive with more than a certain amount of alcohol in your blood. But there is no such specification for what level of pot must be found in your blood before a driver is considered to be impaired, because possessing and smoking pot in itself is illegal. [continues 64 words]
Three Lower Mainland Men Face Charges After Record Port Seizure Linked To Toronto, China The discovery of 66 jugs filled with a yellow liquid led to the first local seizure of an imported controlled substance used to make ecstasy. Police are calling the discovery of MDP2P in soy sauce jugs on a cargo ship from Shenzhen, China, a major coup. The jugs contained enough MDP2P to make 21.2 million doses of the party drug. The discovery triggered an RCMP investigation that shattered an organized criminal plot and led to six raids where drugs and $800,000 was seized. [continues 494 words]
The day after a grow-op in Surrey burst into flames, a crystal meth lab was discovered in Burnaby leaking toxic chemicals and putting neighbours' health in danger. The trend is disturbing not just for police, who are having a tough time keeping up with the drug war, but also for residents, whose lives are put at risk. "It's dangerous business," said Burnaby RCMP Cpl. Pierre Lemaitre. "Everything from the hydro theft, the bypassing of hydro, to the amateur electricians who put other people at risk. You've got labs that are toxic -- you're talking acids and acetones." [continues 283 words]
An angry B.C. MP is demanding further punitive action against a Langley man he says lived off welfare for 10 years while acquiring three homes and running a grow-op. Randy White, Conservative for Langley-Abbotsford, recently told this story to the House of Commons in Ottawa: "Phu Son came to Canada in 1994. He was 38 years old and had no money when he arrived. "He has been on welfare from the first time he arrived 10 years ago. He recently got busted for drug-dealing. [continues 536 words]
Two men were in hospital last night with gunshot wounds after a suspected drug-related shootout in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Six to seven shots were fired at 8:40 p.m. in Andy Livingston Park and heard by soccer players on a nearby field. One witness called 911 and police soon found a white man in his 30s on Keefer Street with a gunshot wound to his leg. "We have one person with a gunshot wound in St. Paul's Hospital," said Insp. Gord Coburn of Vancouver police. "We also have another male in Burnaby Hospital with gunshot wounds to his leg." [continues 61 words]
A U.S. prosecutor now says he has no evidence that marijuana seized at the Peace Arch border crossing from a 16-year-old Point Roberts girl on a school bus was B.C. pot. Whatcom County deputy prosecutor Thomas Verge had told The Province earlier this week that the pot appeared to be from B.C. But that didn't stop Point Roberts residents from accusing Canada at a community forum last night of having lax drug laws. "It's so easy and entirely cheap to get marijuana in Canada that this problem isn't going to stop," said resident Gary Kunze. [continues 275 words]
The typical Surrey car thief has changed in the last nine years from a young offender on a joyride to a 28-year-old drug addict with an average of 14 prior criminal convictions, a public forum was told last night. More than 300 residents packed Surrey Arts Centre, only metres away from where a stolen truck driver stuck a family Tuesday night, to hear about new research on auto theft and discuss how to stop it. Sarah Zapotichny, a researcher and daughter of New Westminster police chief Lorne Zapotichny, was asked to spend six months researching Surrey's staggeringly high auto-theft rate. [continues 158 words]
The stab wounds were once proof of how tough he was. But now, the reformed "big boss" of a Hong Kong triad uses his scars to urge teens to stay away from gangs and drugs. Peter Chan Shun Chi flew in from Hong Kong to talk to local youths last night about life in organized crime. After more than a decade as the leader of a triad with a following of more than 100 members, Chan now spends his time working at rehab centres in China, Hong Kong and Malaysia. [continues 245 words]
In the wreckage of this week's news which included murders and beatings, nearly 300 reform-minded Vancouverites gathered yesterday to hatch a plan to make things right again. Everyone from business people to social workers, actors to professors brainstormed solutions to Vancouver's most pressing social issues: Poverty, homelessness, drug abuse, property crime and aggressive panhandling. Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell said the Forum on Neighbourhood Safety and Livability was a "great way" of coming up with concrete solutions. "Government can solve this. Government is you," he said to the group. "We don't need new laws. We've got laws coming out of the ying-yang. We need direction." [continues 405 words]
The attempted rip-off of a marijuana grow-op, six men with a machete and a car crash involving an 18-year-old man with stab wounds. Those are the clues Coquitlam RCMP are working with to solve the city's fifth murder. A neighbour taking a stroll discovered the body of Tuong "Tommy" Vo, 25, of Surrey outside a home in the 1500-block Manzanita Court in upscale Westwood Plateau at 9 a.m. Tuesday. There was no one home at the time but events early in the morning have led police to believe Vo's murder is connected to an attempted theft of marijuana from a grow-op in the 1300-block Erskine Street, said Cpl. Catherine Galliford. [continues 228 words]
