Seizure of 61.5 Kilos of Cocaine From Mexico Linked to Hells Angels An Air Canada employee is at the centre of an international investigation after authorities at Vancouver International Airport seized a large quantity of cocaine before Christmas. Paula Shore of the Canada Border Services Agency said yesterday officers seized 61.5 kilograms of the drug "in the early hours of Dec. 23." RCMP sources told The Province they believe the drugs originated in Mexico and that investigators were looking at a "strong link" to B.C. members of the Hells Angels. [continues 547 words]
Seizure 'Indicative Of Growing Problem,' Says Customs Official A "huge" load of ecstasy pills seized at the Canada-U.S. border highlights the growing role of B.C. organized crime in the drug's production, say officials in both countries. "It's huge," U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Mike Milne said yesterday. "It's one of the larger ones we've had. "It's indicative of the growing problem we've had [with ecstasy smuggling from B.C.] over the past two or three years. It's becoming a very prevalent problem." [continues 267 words]
The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority is dismissing a report that paints a dim picture of the InSite safe-injection facility. The report, available online at www.globaldrugpolicy.org, is published in the Journal of Global Drug Policy and Practice. The critique by Dr. Colin Mangham, research director with the Drug Prevention Network of Canada, notes what he says is evidence of bias in previous evaluations of InSite. He also said there is underreporting of negative findings and that the safe-injection site fails to attract younger drug users, therefore failing to promote drug-use prevention in the long term. [continues 65 words]
A second case of alleged drug possession involving a Vancouver firefighter has surfaced. Seven-year firefighter Andrew David Jeves was one of three men arrested in August 2005 in a Burnaby RCMP sting aimed at disrupting the cocaine trade. Project E-Peat resulted in the seizure of 4.5 kilograms of cocaine, about 1,700 ecstasy pills, 112 grams of methamphetamine, 39.5 g of heroin, a .40-calibre Glock handgun, more than $100,00 in cash and three high-end cars. [continues 212 words]
380 Pot Plants Allegedly Found In Vancouver Fireman's Home DELTA - A Vancouver firefighter may face charges after Delta police found a marijuana grow operation in his home. The unidentified 44-year-old man was arrested Thursday. Police acting on a search warrant raided his home in the 9100-block 112th Street that afternoon and found 380 plants with an estimated street value of $140,000. Vancouver Fire Department spokesman Capt. Rob Jones-Cook confirmed the suspect is a 24-year member of the department and is an active firefighter working out of a station on the city's west side. [continues 290 words]
Violence Feared. Spokesman Says There Are 124 Gangs Working In British Columbia Police head in the front door. Hells Angels head out the back. It's 10:40 p.m. on Friday at No. 5 Orange and the Vancouver police gang-violence task force is making its first bar check of the evening. Members will conduct four more such scans before drunken brawls on Granville Street require their full attention. It's a typical night for the city's newest task force. And as The Province took an exclusive look at the unit at work, one startling safety fact about the city's night scene surfaced: Every bar tour would unearth at least one gangster. [continues 1075 words]
A new, 20-member Vancouver police squad aimed at gangsters with guns started working last night. Vancouver has seen two murders and three gang-related shootings in recent weeks. The latest was at about 9 p.m. Tuesday, when a 26-year-old man was shot three times and left bleeding on the sidewalk at Cambie and West Hastings. The victim is known to police and despite his serious wounds he is not co-operating with investigators. Police say it's a gang- and drug-related hit. [continues 200 words]
VANCOUVER - A different kind of brain drain is under way in B.C. as marijuana growers share their billions of dollars worth of skills with a worldwide audience. "We think they're exporting their expertise," said Supt. Paul Nadeau, director of the RCMP's national drug branch. "We've heard of it on an international scale." Supt. Nadeau says he's in regular contact with law enforcement counterparts in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and all report breaking up grow-ops with links, either direct or indirect, to organized crime groups operating in B.C. [continues 228 words]
Marijuana-Cultivation Expertise Of B.C. Gangs Is Taking Root Around The World A different kind of brain drain is under way in B.C. as pot growers share their billions of dollars' worth of skills with a worldwide audience. "We think they're exporting their expertise," says RCMP Superintendent Paul Nadeau, director of the Mounties' national drug branch and the former head of Vancouver's drug section. "We've heard of it on an international scale." Nadeau says police counterparts in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand all report busting grow-ops with links -- either direct or indirect -- to organized crime groups operating in B.C. [continues 750 words]
VANCOUVER -- A different kind of brain drain is underway in B.C. as pot growers share their billions of dollars worth of skills with a worldwide audience. "We think they're exporting their expertise," said Supt. Paul Nadeau, director of the RCMP's national drug branch. "We've heard of it on an international scale." Nadeau says he's in regular contact with law-enforcement counterparts in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and all report busting grow-ops with links, either direct or indirect, to organized crime groups operating in B.C. [continues 354 words]
Grow Op Skills In Demand The World Over A different kind of brain drain is underway in B.C. as pot growers share their billions of dollars worth of skills with a worldwide audience. "We think they're exporting their expertise," said Supt. Paul Nadeau, director of the RCMP's national drug branch. "We've heard of it on an international scale." Nadeau says he's in regular contact with law enforcement counterparts in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and all report busting grow ops with links, either direct or indirect, to organized crime groups operating in B.C. [continues 456 words]
Marijuana Operations In U.S., New Zealand, Australia Draw On Canadian Expertise VANCOUVER - A different kind of brain drain is underway in B.C. as pot growers share their billions of dollars worth of skills with a worldwide audience. "We think they're exporting their expertise," said Supt. Paul Nadeau, director of the RCMP's national drug branch. "We've heard of it on an international scale." Nadeau says he's in regular contact with law-enforcement counterparts in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and all report busting grow-ops with links to organized crime groups operating in B.C. [continues 426 words]
Full-Scale Evacuation In Motion After Toxic Garbage Broken Open The risk of toxic gas from dumped drug-lab chemicals prompted officials in Surrey to warn of a large-scale evacuation yesterday, only to pull back the alert late in the afternoon. "Once the nature of the chemicals is determined, officials will develop a clear course of action," said Cpl. Roger Morrow of the Surrey RCMP. Barrels, bags and buckets of chemicals were found Tuesday morning piled up at a subdivision building site at 182nd Street and 70th Avenue and a short time later at another location in the 7300-block of 194th Street, both in the Clayton area of Surrey. [continues 379 words]
Two Washington state men with gold teeth who smuggled guns into Canada and drugs into the U.S. have been jailed. Donald Jamar Lewis, 27, was sentenced Friday to 16 years and Flenard Neal, 25, got 14 years. "We hope that we never find a person was killed by one of the guns you trafficked up there [to Canada]," Judge Ronald Leighton said in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Neal was arrested in December 2005 trying to enter the U.S. with marijuana and ecstasy pills stuffed into the doors of his car. [continues 107 words]
Guilty: Surrey Man Claims He Agreed To Do The Job Because He Was Threatened With Harm A Surrey trucker who claimed he was forced into smuggling cocaine after a botched attempt at hauling marijuana south will face at least 10 years in a U.S. jail. Steve Atilla Czinege was convicted in U.S. District Court last week of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. The 40-year-old claimed he was forced into attempting to smuggle approximately 115 kilograms of cocaine into Canada Feb. 27, 2006, because he'd been involved in a previous failed attempt to truck 136 kilos of marijuana south into the U.S. [continues 223 words]
January 2006: Propane tanker fails to stop for U.S. inspectors at Aldergrove crossing, later pulled over by RCMP in Abbotsford. Canadian border officers find 127 kilograms of cocaine inside tank. February 2006: Three men charged by Canadian authorities after discovery of 67 kg of cocaine in three boxes in an otherwise empty van at Pacific Highway crossing. Another 33 kg seized from a Bellingham warehouse. March 2006: U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Pacific Highway crossing find 210 kg of MDMA/ecstasy and 375 kg of marijuana concealed in drums. [continues 78 words]
VANCOUVER -- A new toll-free hotline will allow truckers in B.C. with intimate knowledge of cross-border drug smuggling to tip-off police. The number (1-888-598-####) features services in English and Punjabi. It came on line officially yesterday and will be in place for three months before police evaluate its success. Cpl. Norm Massie of the RCMP "E" Division Border Integrity Unit said the hotline is designed to allow truckers who know of compromised colleagues and drivers who may themselves have been approached to run drugs to call in anonymously and let police know what's going on. [continues 261 words]
Hotline Allows Insiders To Anonymously Tip Off Border Cops A new toll-free hotline will allow truckers with intimate knowledge of cross-border drug smuggling to tip off police. The number, 1-888-598-####, features services in English and Punjabi. It officially came online yesterday and will be evaluated after three months. In a Province exclusive, Cpl. Norm Massie of the RCMP E Division Border Integrity Unit said the hotline is designed to allow truckers who know of compromised colleagues, and drivers who may themselves have been approached to run drugs, to call anonymously. [continues 442 words]
Freedom Lost: Married Father Serving Time For Smuggling Dope It was an offer the married father should have refused. Take your truck, cross the border, pick something up and bring it back. You won't get caught, but you will get paid -- tens of thousands of dollars. Police say such offers are turning more and more B.C. truckers into international drug mules as organized crime looks to the road to transport drugs across the border. Trucker Bob Smith (not his real name) drove his rig to the U.S., fully expecting to drive it back with something illegal inside. Smith says he never knew exactly what his cargo was until it was loaded. [continues 643 words]
Since Sept. 11, 2001, information sharing among Canadian and U.S. law enforcement agencies has improved, along with technical methods of drug detection at the border. About half of commercial vehicles searched are flagged as potential smugglers before they reach the border, says Jan Brock, Canada Border Services Agency chief of commercial operations for the Pacific Highway District. The other half are unloaded and searched based on the suspicions of officers, with a greater emphasis on commercial-vehicle searches. Officers use gamma-rays, X-rays and radiation detectors, and drug-sniffing dogs. [end]
