DRUG CZAR GETS EIGHT YEARS FOR ECSTASY BUST

Patrick Dan Chang Given Longest Sentence In Canadian History For Such A Crime

The kingpin of a pair of Richmond drug labs that had the chemicals to
make 15 million hits of ecstasy has been handed the longest prison
sentence in Canadian history for such a crime.

Patrick Dan Chang, 34, of Vancouver was sentenced this week to eight
years by Richmond Provincial Court Judge Ron Fratkin.

Chang and three associates were found guilty Feb. 4 on two counts of
production of a controlled substance, two counts of possession for
the purpose of trafficking, and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.

With time spent in jail awaiting trial and sentencing, Chang was
given credit for 58 months served and is facing a maximum of another
three years and two months in jail.

Three other members of the ring were handed sentences ranging from
four to five years.

The street value of 15 million hits of ecstasy has been estimated as
high as $375 million.

Cpl. Norm Massie, media liaison for the RCMP's border integrity squad
in B.C., said the operation "had international connections" and
involved organized crime, but he declined to name the gang involved.

Two of the men are Chinese nationals and the other two are Canadians.

The two houses are a few kilometres apart in southern Richmond -- in
the 6500-block No. 5 Road and 5100-block Steveston Highway. The owner
of both homes was charged and found not guilty by Fratkin.

"It was a reasonably nice neighbourhood," Massie said of the pair of
busts one day apart in September 2005.

Massie called the operation, code-named E PAR, "one of the largest
organized-crime disruptions of synthetic drug labs in Canadian history."

The break in the case came when Transport Canada officials'
suspicions were piqued by a large volume of an ecstasy ingredient --
600 kilograms of sodium borohydride -- being imported from Shanghai
to a Richmond address.

Massie applauded the high degree of co-operation on the case from the
15 agencies from three levels of government involved.

Also sentenced were:

Tik Sheun Dison Ngai, 32, of Vancouver -- five years in prison for
conspiracy to commit an indictable offence and production of a
controlled substance.

Kai Ming Fung, 50, and Ka Wah Chan, 47, both of Surrey -- four years
each for conspiracy to commit an indictable offence and production of
a controlled substance.