B.C. AT HUB OF GLOBAL DRUG TRADE

Pot Economy Has Grown To Include Other Drugs, New Markets

The world has a drug problem -- it's called British Columbia.

Asian, Indo-Canadian and outlaw motorcycle gangs are not only putting
pot, cocaine, heroin, ecstacy and crystal meth into the hands of B.C.
citizens, but they're also using globalization to reap profits
planetwide, an RCMP intelligence report reveals.

"The involvement of organized crime has significantly expanded the
Canadian illicit drug trade, posing a major threat both domestically
and internationally," said the just-released Drug Situation Report
2006.

"Criminal organizations that previously specialized in one drug . . .
have now branched out into multi-commodity trafficking, importation
and exportation. These organizations are powerful, well-connected and
are dealing in high-profit-yielding illicit ventures across the globe."

B.C. has become a production and trans-shipment hub in the worldwide
drug trade, Allan Castle, head of criminal analysis for the RCMP's
Pacific region, said yesterday.

Millions of dollars in ill-gotten cash go to "some of the least
scrupulous people in the province," Castle said.

The RCMP estimates that the drugs Canadian police seized in 2006 had a
street value of $2.3 billion.

"Money likes to influence things," Castle said. "There's a lot of
potential for corruption."

The former University of B.C. professor said it wouldn't surprise him
if serious drug-related government-corruption issues cropped up in
B.C. in coming years.

"There's only so many [Cadillac] Escalades you can buy before you
start thinking of other things," Castle said.

The same qualities that make the Vancouver area a centre for
international trade in legitimate goods are now enriching criminals
who trade in illegal products, Castle said.

The multi-ethnic population has links around the world, and the region
is a hub for international transport.

Last year, authorities in the United Kingdom and Australia seized
cocaine that came from Canada. In one instance, Australia intercepted
a ship carrying computer monitors packed with 135 kilograms of cocaine
and 120,000 ecstasy tablets.

Canada has replaced Holland as the primary supplier of ecstasy within
Canada and to the U.S. In 2006, Australian officers pounced on a
marine shipment of 1.2 million yellow ecstasy pills coming from B.C.
The same year, a Canadian was caught in Colombia en route to Ecuador
with 2,570 ecstacy pills.

B.C.'s long-established pot economy, which has traditionally sold the
drug into the U.S., created networks now used to expand the trade in
other drugs, Castle said.

Although the report identifies ethnic-based organizations, it would be
inaccurate to view B.C.'s drug economy as an outgrowth of immigration,
Castle said.

"There are tons of Caucasian Canadian citizens . . . involved in drug
trafficking in B.C.," he said.

Chief among B.C.'s advantages for the drug trafficker may be its court
system, Castle suggested.

"There may be a perception amongst criminal organizations that the
legal framework presents less risks to them here than it might in the
United States," he said.

"We can't afford to be seen as a place where this kind of business can
be done with minimal risk . . . because of the significant violence
that attends."

The report said domestic labs produce most of Canada's crystal meth,
with Indo-Canadian gangs importing the ingredient ephedrine from
India, and Asian groups bringing it in from China.

"Canada's increasing role as an exporter of methamphetamine has been
substantiated for the last four years," the RCMP report said,
highlighting Canadian meth shipments seized in New Zealand and Japan.

While heroin production in Southeast Asia has plunged, it's grown
significantly in Afghanistan. Asian gangs used to import the drug to
Canada. Now, Indo-Canadian groups are bringing it in via India using
drug couriers, or "mules," the report said.

Smugglers, according to the RCMP report, are using boats, helicopters,
planes, snow machines, all-terrain vehicles, backpacks, false-bottomed
suitcases and secret truck compartments to move their goods around the
globe.

"Even inspecting 10 per cent of containers that enter any port in
North America is like a distant dream," Castle said.