CANADIAN DRUG TRAFFICKERS GO GLOBAL

Materials For Deadly Drugs Are Legally Imported By Criminals

When former Surrey resident Gurdish Singh (Ricky) Toor was arrested in
India last August, police there said he was the kingpin of an
international drug cartel linked to China and Canada.

The 29-year-old remains locked up in Delhi's Tihar jail where B.C.
members of the RCMP's drug enforcement unit recently interviewed him
and other Canadians allegedly involved in global drug trafficking rings.

Insp. Brian Cantera, who heads RCMP E Division's drug squad, confirmed
that a local team made the trip to India in December to talk to Toor
and others imprisoned there.

While investigators here are tight-lipped about what transpired during
their meetings, Canadian police do say that drug traffickers are going
global in their desire to reap bigger profits from precursor chemicals
used for deadly synthetic drugs like crystal meth and ecstasy.

Criminals in countries like India and Canada are the new powerbrokers
as they can get their hands on large quantities of chemicals that can
then be exported -- legally in some cases -- to Canada.

Police in India say Toor was living a lavish, drug-financed life of
fancy apartments and expensive cars when he was busted seven months
ago. They claim Toor had 100 kilograms of ephedrine worth millions of
dollars that was about to be shipped to North America.

Delhi Deputy Commissioner Ravindra Yadav told The Vancouver Sun this
week that Toor "was caught red-handed." He is in custody and will soon
go to trial in a case that is expected to continue for months, said
Yadav, who works out of the Southwest Delhi police station.

The Indian case will focus on the connections uncovered in that
country and ignore the tentacles said to reach across the globe.

"He was a very hard nut to crack and he would not disclose many
things," Yadav said. "The Indian connections we could follow, but not
the foreign connections. Of course the Canadians interviewed him and
might be following those."

Yadav said Toor's method was simple -- send the precursor chemicals
for meth and ecstasy to North America "through sea containers and
through air parcels."

Toor is not the only Canadian in India alleged to have been involved
in the production of lucrative synthetic drugs for the international
market. Just days after Toor was nabbed, a Brampton, Ont., man
identified as Harjinder Singh Bassi was also arrested allegedly trying
to ship more than 550 kilograms of ephedrine to Canada. A third
Canadian, identified only as Rajinder Singh, was arrested in October
when Indian police raided an underground laboratory believed to be
operated with the assistance of Chinese nationals. Two tonnes of
chemicals used in the manufacture of methamphetamine and laboratory
equipment were seized.

Yadav said the sophistication of the operation linked to Toor was
surprising. The young Canadian, who had been living with his family in
Surrey before heading to India in August 2004, had allegedly set up
front companies to cover his tracks.

Police in Canada say organized crime is moving into the production of
chemical drugs because the profit margin is even higher than it is
with marijuana and cocaine.

And many of the products needed to produce synthetic drugs are legally
imported into the country, even though they are being used to make
illegal substances.

Canadian laws on precursor chemicals are less restrictive than
American legislation, meaning Canada is a more desirable country for
organized crime to bring in its product.

Several precursor chemicals used to make meth and ecstacy were banned
or regulated in January, 2003, but others -- like methylamine
hydrochloride and sodium borohydride -- have no restrictions on their
importation.

That frustrates Cantera, who says inevitably large shipments of the
chemicals are ending up in the hands of organized crime groups.

"One of the biggest issues right now is the abundance of precursors
which are currently coming into the country," he said.

"And these are utilized in the whole of the process for
methamphetamines and some of the chemical drugs that are being
produced. I would like to see more control mechanisms in place so that
ultimately we could prevent that from happening."

Health Canada is the federal agency that decides which chemicals are
regulated. But it won't regulate new precursors unless there is
evidence of a great need to do so, spokesman Jason Bouzanis said.

"Should evidence arise that suggests significant misuse of these
chemicals and risk to public health and safety, Health Canada would
take action accordingly," he said. "Health Canada does not currently
have evidence to suggest that the health and safety risks associated
with these chemicals warrant control through regulation."

Police are frustrated because they know the precursor chemicals are
ending up in the hands of the province's crime groups -- biker gangs
and Asian organized crime in particular.

"Right now, they simply are brought into the country with really no
means for the police to protect society," Cantera said.

His specialized team has enough to do in tracking the substances that
are already illegal, let alone those still unregulated.

"How do you follow a legal substance when there are so many illegal
substances out there?" he asked.

Then there are the legal questions -- if you are following a legal
substance, "what are you doing following it?"

"The real difficulty is trying to find the resources which are very
strapped at this time and to minimize the ability of organized crime
to produce this stuff," Cantera said.

RCMP Sgt. Doug Culver, the Ottawa-based coordinator of synthetic drug
operations, said police work with legitimate Canadian chemical
distributors and other partners to identify fly-by-night companies
starting up to bring in chemicals for illicit drugs. A national
conference of interested parties is being held in Stratford, Ont.,
next week to discuss the current trends and problems with "chemical
diversion," Culver said.

"Ninety-nine percent of all chemical producers, retailers and
wholesalers are all on board with us," he said, adding that many of
the tips about organized crime come from the legitimate businesses who
see what is going on.

Some of the chemical drugs are sold to teens as harmless party drugs,
but they are anything but, police say.

Culver said most of the legal precursor chemicals being brought in by
organized crime are coming from China.

Just adding methylamine hydrochloride to the list of regulated
chemicals won't completely solve the problem, Culver said, as some of
the large shipments have been smuggled in as something else.

And the groups making meth and ecstasy are getting so creative that
they will find new precursors to take the place of whatever becomes
harder to import through new regulations. The Internet is not helping
as orders can be placed internationally with the click of a mouse and
a cash deposit in an off-shore bank account.

"It is a real cat-and-mouse game trying to stay ahead of the cooks and
the smugglers," Culver said.

Over the past two years in B.C. at least two teenage ecstasy-related
deaths were recorded. And crystal meth is even worse, according to
police and addiction specialists. Forty-four B.C. residents died of
crystal meth overdoses in 2004. It is one of the most addictive
substances and one of the hardest habits to break.

"It is such a deadly drug," Cantera said.

In fact, Sgt. Scott Rintoul, the RCMP's drug awareness officer, recent
told reporters after a Richmond chemical lab bust that younger and
younger kids are trying methamphetamines, crystal meth and ecstasy.

Rintoul stood with stacks of seized chemicals, pill presses, drugs,
cash and weapons around him and said: "This illustrates that we are in
an era of chemical drugs."

Faith St. John, of the Canada Border Services Agency, said officials
try to keep an eye on shipments of precursor chemicals that are not
yet banned or regulated.

"If our officers come across a shipment of legally imported precursor
chemicals that cause us concern for some reason, they will forward
information to the appropriate agency," she said.

An example was in 2005 when the CBSA, working with Transport Canada,
noticed a 600-kilo shipment of sodium borohydride, in 17 large
containers, coming into B.C. from Shanghai. While the chemical can be
legally imported and has legitimate uses, it is also a major component
of ecstasy.

The RCMP was told that the chemical was headed to a private residence
in Richmond.

Two houses owned by realtor Albert Wai Ming Luk were raided in
September 2005 and drug labs uncovered with enough chemicals to
produce $300 million worth of the illegal drug, according to police.
Luk and four others face a series of charges related to production of
controlled substances for trafficking. They are due to go to trial in
Richmond Provincial Court March 26.

The clandestine labs -- operating in quiet residential area
unbeknownst to neighbours -- could have had a devastating impact if
there had been an explosion. Clean-up crews in full body covers were
called in to dismantle the labs. Police said an entire city block
could have been taken out by what they uncovered if it had exploded.

Despite the potential for disaster, sodium borohydride, like
methylamine hydrochloride, remains an unregulated drug that can be
imported without a permit.

Both the chemicals are controlled substances in the
U.S.

The RCMP say that means that some B.C. crime groups are motivated to
get the chemicals here to smuggle them across the border to U.S.
counterparts who want to produce their own synthetic drugs.

St. John said that over the past year across Canada, there have been
about 100 legally declared imports of methylamine hydrochloride. Over
the last four months, there have been four shipments totalling just
over 4,000 kilograms, she said.

Sodium borohydride is harder to track, she said, because it does not
have its own code, but is included in a broader category of chemicals.

And nobody is keeping track of pill presses, which are perfectly legal
- -- and very easy -- to import.

"The importation of pill presses -- which are used in the production
of ecstasy -- are not controlled in Canada," St. John said.

The tools and resources needed for the growing synthetic drug trade
mean traditional organized crime groups in B.C. have had to build
alliances and relationships with other groups.

Insp. Gary Shinkaruk, who heads the RCMP's outlaw motorcycle gang
unit, said even the Hells Angels are having to work with other
criminal organizations to get the chemicals they need.

"There are many diverse criminal organizations that are working within
British Columbia. Their tentacles reach outside of the province and
also internationally," he said. "We are talking large amounts of money."

Certainly it was the money that attracted Gurdish Toor, the young B.C.
man who could now spend years in an Indian jail cell.

"What Gurdish Toor told us is that there were other people also who
might be coming from Canada and trying to do this because there is a
lot of money in this narcotics trade," Yadav said.

"He was only one of them. There are many others."

METHAMPHETAMINES: A GROWING PROBLEM

Here is a sampling of some of the larger meth lab busts in the Lower
Mainland since 2005:

1 FEB. 16, 2007

Ditch in the 18500-block of 28th Ave., Cloverdale (near East
Kensington Elementary)

Meth lab dump -- four barrels

2 FEB. 6, 2007

182nd St. and 70th Ave., Surrey

Meth lab dump -- barrels, buckets and garbage bags containing
dangerous chemicals

3 FEB. 6, 2007

7300-block 194th Street, Surrey

Meth lab dump -- ten 45-gallon drums of chemicals and 9 smaller
containers

4 JAN. 25, 2007

Flood Falls Road, Hope

Meth lab dump -- eight 5-gallon buckets containing hazardous
materials

5 JAN. 29, 2007

3671 Raymond Ave., Richmond

Secondary sites: 107-7480 Gilbert Road contained nearly $3 million
worth of street-ready drugs; 67-11571 Thorpe Road also searched

Millions of dollars in illegal drugs and chemical precursors,
including $500,000 worth of methamphetamine, $150,000 worth of ecstasy
powder and 9 pill presses

6 JAN. 17, 2007

70A and 234 St. near Williams Park, Langley

Meth lab dump -- fourteen 20-litre pails of meth waste

7 JAN. 4, 2007

7900-block Nelson Ave., Burnaby

Meth lab

8 DEC. 23, 2006

17251 Westminster Highway, Richmond

Drug lab -- containers and cookware

9 NOV. 22, 2006

2400-block Kelly Ave, Port Coquitlam

Meth lab including barrels of chemicals and marijuana growing
operation

10 OCTOBER 2006

9911 Greenlees Ct., Richmond

One kilo of methamphetamine, 28 kilos of dried marijuana, $100,000 in
cash and $7,000 US plus a $30,000 bank draft, ammunition for an AR15
assault rifle, loaded 9mm pistol, 3,400 mature marijuana plants,
commercial grade pill press and other gear for meth lab.

11 JULY 2006

23200-block Lougheed Highway, between Tamarack Crescent & 105 Ave.
near Golden Ears Chrysler, Maple Ridge

"Enough chemicals to blow up 4 blocks:" crystal meth and ecstasy
chemicals

12 JUNE 22, 2006

33600-block Morey Rd., Abbotsford

Meth lab -- chemicals, lab equipment

13 JUNE 6, 2006

Pemberton Hill near the intersection of Bradner and Marsh-McCormick
Roads, Abbotsford

Four drums of waste from meth lab

14 MAY 25, 2006

Shed behind house in 46000-block Airport Road, Chilliwack

Chemicals and equipment for meth lab and growing operation

15 MAY 9, 2006

3rd floor suite at 1650 E 5th Ave., Vancouver

Meth lab

16 APRIL 26, 2006

Area near 212 Street and 12 Avenue, Langley

Meth lab dump -- 30 pails of acetone

17 MARCH 6, 2006

Glen Valley at 256th St and 84th Ave, Langley

Meth lab dump -- 4 barrels of toxic chemicals

18 MARCH 6, 2006

Murrayville, in the 3100-block of 232nd St., Langley

Meth lab dump -- barrels of toxic chemicals

19 FEB. 11, 2006

100-block Montreal St., Victoria (beside daycare in James
Bay)

Meth lab and chemicals

20 SEPTEMBER 23, 2005

2500-block Lefeuvre Road, Abbotsford

Large meth lab with ability to manufacture 12 kilos of meth every 48
hours and $2.5 million worth of methamphetamine

21 JUNE 2005

4669 Belmont Ave., Vancouver

Meth lab with ability to produce 4.5 kilograms of meth every 12 hours;
85 litres of thinner chemical, 40 litres muriatic acid, a barrel with
80 kilograms of red phosphorous, other chemicals and equipment.

22 MARCH 19, 2005

5 - 1615 Shaughnessy St., Port Coquitlam

Sophisticated lab

Research by Kate Bird, Vancouver Sun