CRACKDOWN TO CONTINUE

And then there were seven.....Surrey drug cops have scooped 58
street-level drug dealers off Whalley's streets this week, leaving
just seven more suspects on the loose. To boost the pressure on the
wanted men, Surrey RCMP released a rogue's gallery of their mug shots
to local papers Friday.

Surrey RCMP Cpl. Roger Morrow said the operation has been a success
and many of the arrested dealers remain in custody pending trial.

"There could be as many as 50 still in custody; that's still to be
confirmed," Morrow said.

"That's pretty good. These guys usually go underground when this kind
of operation starts. They get out of Dodge."

Morrow said suspects with extensive police records are being held,
while those whose rap sheets aren't so long are being released on bail.

He said this week's sweep is the first in a series of operations
calculated to curb drug dealing and associated crime in the city.
"We're still after the high-end people, but we have to deal with
local-level guys, too. We're going to be going after crack shacks and
the dial-a-dopers."

Just how effective the sweep has been depends on who you talk to. On
Friday morning, half-a-dozen crack smokers hung out in front of an
empty building in the 10700-block of 135A Street, in the dark heart
of Whalley's drug scene.

While one of the group fires up his crack pipe, a woman whose face
shows the ravages of drug abuse shrugs off the Mounties' efforts.
With several dozen dealers taken down, she said, crack cocaine is
still easy to find.

"No, it's not harder to get a rock. It doesn't make any difference.
People have their ways," she said, refusing to give a name.

Robert is out walking with Conan, his German shepherd. He returned to
live in Whalley a year ago after spending some time in Terrace, his
hometown. There's no work there, he said, so he's back in Surrey
trying to make a living for himself and his young family.

"I lived here for 20 years. When I heard the SkyTrain was coming, I
moved. I knew it was going to be trouble. It's worse here now than it
ever was. When I lived here before, you had gangs like the Whalley
Burnouts running around, but it wasn't this bad."

Robert said he hasn't noticed any change since the drug sweep began.

"Drugs are a huge problem. I don't know if you can really do anything
about it," he said.

Tina owns the African Superstore on King George Highway, near 108th
Avenue. She came to Canada from Ghana 12 years ago. She's pleased
with the RCMP's work in the neighbourhood. "It's better now. There
used to be a lot of those drug people all over the street. The police
go up and down and there's not so many now," she said.

Naseeb Naebkhil agrees. He owns the Ariana Islamic Gift Market a
half-block down the street from Tina's store. Since the RCMP sweep
began, he said, there's less drug activity on the street and things
are calmer than before.

"There's not so much yelling and running around after each other -
things drugs make you do," Naebkhil said.

"It's better."

Morrow said police know the crackdown won't eliminate the drug
problem in Surrey, but they believe it will help control it.

"We never claimed it was going to be the be all and end all. Will it
mean the end of drug dealing in Whalley? No. Will it slow things
down? Yes, it will," said Morrow.