DECOYS, CODED MESSAGES USED TO THROW POLICE OFF THE TRAIL

The motorcyclist zipping along Highway 17 may not know it, but he is
being watched. In a few minutes, a police cruiser will pull him over
and he and his bike will be searched for drugs.

Police have been watching him for some time. But it's not only the
biker who has drawn their attention.

There is a red sports car that has been following the same route as
the biker, staying a distance back.

Police are convinced the biker is merely a decoy for a shipment of
cocaine from Quebec, destined for the streets of Sudbury.

Officers will pull the biker over, if only to make it look like his
role as decoy has worked. But other officers are tracking the sports
car, hoping not only to scoop up the contraband it is carrying, but to
nab at least one of the people who make up the first rung in the
distribution of illegal drugs.

Using the decoy method is just one of many ways drugs are brought into
the city, says Sgt. Dwight Teeple of the Greater Sudbury Police
Service's drug squad.

"That biker will be the point man," explains Teeple, who spent years
as a drug squad officer before moving up to head of the unit. In this
case, the woman driving the sports car will know exactly where she is
to go and who she is to meet.

Usually, the rendezvous for the drugs is just outside the city limits,
said Teeple.

Through a pre-arranged plan, and through coded messages on pagers and
cellphones, the first intended recipient of the drugs will head out of
the city, to the rendezvous point, where they usually will receive
about half of the shipment.

Later, the car's driver will meet with a second distributor at a
different location and offload the rest of the drugs.

The two distributors will then "step on," or mix, the drug to dilute
it before handing them over to their own distributors.

Dextrose is a common mixing agent for cocaine. Salts, baking soda and
icing sugar are others. By now, the drugs are on their way to the
street through a sophisticated distribution system that can only be
compared to a pyramid selling scheme, says Insp. Gerry Pope, who
oversees the drug squad.

Once the drug is here, it is only a matter of hours before it is in
the hands of what are called street-level dealers. And there are
hundreds in Sudbury, said Teeple.

Only, in this case, the police managed to stop the drugs by
intervening at the first dropoff point. Not only did they get the
drugs, they also got at least two players in the distribution network,
including the original courier and one of the two agents who were to
have received the drug. Some distribution networks can be extremely
sophisticated, says Pope, involving a complex series of codes,
electronic gear, pagers, cellphones and a host of other
paraphernalia.

The higher up the distribution chain the individual, the more
insulated they are and the more elaborate the schemes they use to
avoid detection.

"This is big business," says Pope.

"And you've got to keep in mind these individuals at the top (of the
distribution network) didn't get there by being stupid," adds Teeple.

Transporting the drugs by car is only one of many ways they get to the
city, says Pope. Just about every conceivable means of transportation
- - even mail and commercial courier - have been used.

"If it is put in a box and sealed, there is no smell to cocaine, at
that point," says Teeple. Teeple believes most of the cocaine in
Sudbury comes from Quebec. "I would say that is a major drug route."

The drugs are generally brought in by outlaw biker gangs, such as the
Hells Angels, he says. Police suspect bike gangs, based on ongoing
investigations and intelligence gathering, not only in Sudbury, but
elsewhere as well.

That intelligence gathering can often lead to joint drug
investigations involving two or more police services. Often the link
is between the municipal police service, such as Sudbury, and the
Ontario Provincial Police or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

But often other municipal forces will be involved as well. Launching a
joint-forces investigation is "not just a telephone call saying let's
work together," says Pope.

"There are official agreements as to what resources will be available,
who will supply the resources, how the information will be handled,
who will handle it. They are like a very detailed business plan."

Depending on the scope of the investigation, it is even possible to
have the provincial government become involved in suppling resources
directly, usually cash, to the investigation.

Drug probes can last anywhere from a few hours to a couple of years,
says Teeple.

"What sometimes happens is you start an investigation and it seems to
snowball," he says. "Once you get it going, more players come in, and
once you are there doing surveillance, you are seeing this and you are
seeing that, and it can take you in a lot of different
directions."

Just as there is a hierarchy to drug distribution, there appears to be
a hierarchy to drug use, says Teeple.

Teens tend to use marijuana and other cannabis products, he says. But
as they leave their teen years and move into the workforce, they can,
and usually do, move on to cocaine.

"They have a career and have the money where they can purchase
cocaine." Money is the difference, he says. "You are talking $100 a
gram for cocaine compared to $20 a gram for a cannabis product."

- - Tomorrow: Police go undercover to enforce Canada's drug laws.