BRACE FOR GANG WAR, POLICE WARN

Clash Over Drugs, Guns, Power

Police Are Bracing for a Gang War in B.C. With the Imminent Release
of an Indo-Canadian Mobster From Jail.

"There will be shootings for sure. For the most part, it's bad guy
versus bad guy but if you interfere in their business, if you are in
the wrong nightclub at the wrong time, you're totally at risk," said
Vancouver Det. Const. Doug Spencer. "They really don't care. They're
not good with verbal skills, these guys."

The mobster who police worry will be the flashpoint for the violence
is Peter Adiwal, 27. He has been linked to the multi-ethnic
Independent Soldiers gang whose nominal leader Paul Dosanjh, 28, was
gunned down while Adiwal was in custody in 2004.

The Soldiers have been without strong leadership since then.

Adiwal is serving seven years stemming from the kidnapping and
beating of Sukhjit Singh Basi in 2003. Adiwal is due for release in
January. His twin brother Mike Adiwal is already out on parole for
the same offence.

"Peter's the stronger person of the two. His reputation precedes
him," Spencer said.

When Peter hits the streets, he will most likely attempt to unite the
disparate elements of the Independent Soldiers under his leadership,
Spencer said.

"A bunch of other guys think they run the [Independent Soldiers]
show," Spencer said. "[Peter's] going to completely take control."

And, Spencer added, there is concern that Adiwal's pending release
will kick off a spate of violence over the unsolved 2004 shooting
murder of Adiwal's best friend, Phil Hothi, who died alongside former
high-school basketball star Herman Dhillon. The two men were shot
dead at accused drug dealer Tommy Chan's East Vancouver home. Chan,
30, was shot in a downtown nightclub last May and died in hospital.

The grisly toll will rise when Peter Adiwal is freed, Spencer predicted.

Once the Independent Soldiers are unified, Spencer said, the focus
will shift to battles with established criminal organizations such as
the UN Gang and the Hells Angels as all try to carve out or maintain
their place in B.C.'s lucrative drug trade.

The expected clash between the UN Gang and the Soldiers is of
particular concern because both groups are up-and-coming and eager to
establish dominance.

"If they run into each other for whatever reason, it's all-out war,"
Spencer warned.

Sgt. Shinder Kirk of the B.C. Integrated Gang Task Force said Adiwal
is well known to them.

"We're aware of who he is, we're aware of his previous activities and
we're aware of what he may get back into when he's released," Kirk said.

Two members of the Independent Soldiers were arrested in Kelowna last
week with a loaded 9 mm handgun, a crossbow, 18 9-mm gun barrels,
cash and paraphernalia related to the gang, police say.

It is the first time Independent Soldiers have been arrested in the
Central Okanagan.

"If they view Kelowna as a place they can make money, they will come
here," said

Const. Annie Linteau.

The reason the Soldiers are branching out to the Okanagan is pretty
clear, according to Spencer -- police know them too well in the Lower Mainland.

"They're up there setting up grow houses," he said. "There's not
going to be enough clients. That's when they're going to collide
[with other gangs in the city]."

RIVAL GANGS

- - The Independent Soldiers are a loosely affiliated group of
primarily Indo-Canadian gangsters involved in marijuana grow-ops,
cocaine and guns.

The gang originated in southeast Vancouver and was once known as the
Sunset Boys because they were active around the Sunset Community
Centre. Former leader Sukvinder Singh Dosanjh died in a car crash
last fall. His brother Gerpal Singh "Paul" Dosanjh died in a hail of
gunfire in an East Vancouver restaurant in March 2004.

- - The UN Gang is a relatively unknown quantity that surfaced in
Chilliwack and Abbotsford about four years ago. The gang takes its
name from the United Nations because of its members' diverse ethnic
backgrounds, including Indo-Canadians, Persians, Caucasians and
Asians. They are known to be violent and well armed. Police sources
say the gang has established a chokehold on the drug trade in the
Downtown Eastside.