DRUG DEALERS SET UP MOBILE LABS

Police allege a criminal organization headed by a Vancouver associate of the
Hells Angels used two mobile drug labs to supply crack cocaine and heroin to
the Downtown Eastside.

The labs were used to feed a cocaine and heroin distribution network that
operated from a room in the American Hotel by utilizing "runners" who delivered
the drugs to street-level dealers,

"It was a very elaborate set-up at the American Hotel," RCMP Inspector Bob
Paulson said.

The mobile labs were used to cook crack cocaine and to break down heroin into
street doses, he said.

He said the alleged criminal organization would set up the labs in rooms rented
at motels in the Lower Mainland.

At one point, police learned one member of the organization was suspected of
stealing $500,000 in cash from his confederates. The man was beaten, then taken
to a private polygraph operator for a lie-detector test to see if his denials
were true.

Police observed the man being released by his captors after taking the
lie-detector test.

Paulson said police seized 10 kilograms of cocaine, worth about $30,000 a kilo,
during two busts last year of mobile drug labs. One lab was found at the Linda
Vista Motel on King George Highway in Surrey on April 16, 2002, the other at
the Sleepy Lodge in Coquitlam on June 15, 2002.

Paulson said some of the drugs were found in a hidden compartment in a car used
to transport drugs and cash.

One of those arrested allegedly specialized in welding hidden compartments in
cars using a now-defunct auto body shop he ran on First Avenue, just east of
Boundary Road.

The lab seizures were made public only Wednesday, when police announced 12 men
have been charged with drug offences.