CHINESE GANG MEMBER WAS RING'S CEO, POLICE ALLEGE

The "chief executive officer" behind an international criminal organization
responsible for one out of every seven ecstasy tablets in the U.S. is a
Chinese gang member who was living illegally in the Canada for years,
despite his criminal past, police say.

Ze Wei Wong, 46, arrested yesterday on a host of drug-related charges, was
labelled a member of the notorious Big Circle Boys gang when he was
arrested in 1994 for his role a global, multimillion-dollar high-tech scam.

At the time, police said Mr. Wong and his gang churned out a fifth of the
world's counterfeit credit cards.

Yesterday, nearly a decade after the credit card bust, 10 uniformed
officers led Mr. Wong from his spartan Scarborough condominium.

He is accused of heading an international network capable of trafficking
one million ecstasy pills and untold quantities of marijuana -- produced in
Toronto and Ottawa -- every month.

"He may have been responsible for as much as 15 per cent of MDMA
trafficking in United States. That's a huge number," said Det. Sgt. Randy
Banks, a specialist in Asian organized crime with the Toronto police.

After his first arrest, Mr. Wong was ordered deported in February 1996.
Police are unsure how he re-entered Canada. They compared Mr. Wong and his
Ottawa-based partner, Mai Le, to the chief executive officer and the chief
financial officer of a multimillion-dollar corporation.

Police were cautious when discussing Mr. Wong's life in Canada. He lived
alone in a spartan apartment, they said. Aside from his luxury SUV, there
were few signs of the millions of dollars in drug proceeds he allegedly made.

"There was a lot of eating out at restaurants and visiting friends," said
Det. Sgt. Franks.

About $100,000 in U.S. and Canadian cash was seized from his apartment, as
were small quantities of marijuana and ecstasy. No weapons were found.

Mr. Wong is charged with 39 counts, including to conspiracy to traffic and
export a controlled substance, conspiracy to launder the proceeds of crime
and possession of property obtained by crime.