POLICE RAID FINDS FIRST ECSTASY LAB IN MANITOBA

Dangerous goods team brought in after fumes affect officers

WINNIPEG police uncovered a major designer-drug laboratory early yesterday
during a routine raid of what they believed to be a pot farm.

Police say it was the first Ecstasy lab they have discovered in Manitoba,
although traces of chemicals used to make speed and evidence of a marijuana
grow operation were also found.

"This is a significant-size laboratory -- there's enough chemicals here to
make hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Ecstasy," said Richard Laing,
a chemist from Vancouver's Health Protection Branch, who helped city police
with the raid.

Manitoba Environment, RCMP and the Winnipeg Fire Department's hazardous
materials unit also assisted in the raid of the home at 910 Boyd Ave.

The recovered materials are highly reactive, flammable and contain
carcinogens. Some of them can cause serious lung damage or can be fatal.

"If the police had not seized these chemicals the way they did, there could
have been a serious fire," Laing said.

The north-end street was closed off all day as a recovery team removed
materials. The neighbourhood was not evacuated, but people were asked to
stay inside during the seizure.

The first officers to arrive at the house left when fumes burned their
throats and made their eyes water.

Their symptoms began to wear off within a few minutes and they did not need
medical treatment.

A recovery team entered the home later with respirators and oxygen tanks.

Rebecca Weinreich, who lives next door, said she thought there was something
odd about her neighbours. She says they told her they planned to live in the
house once they fixed it up.

"I thought it was strange, because I fix up houses and they only came every
second day -- you don't get anything done that way," she said. "They sure
fixed it up for everyone, didn't they? No one needs this kind of thing."

The two men were described by another neighbour as white, clean-cut and in
their mid-twenties. They were first seen at the house in February, two
neighbours said.

Most people were shocked to hear of a major drug operation on their quiet
street, but some weren't surprised.

"I knew there were drugs going around, but I keep my mouth shut," said Boyd
Avenue resident Justino, who wouldn't give his last name.

Vice division Insp. Gary Walker fears more drug labs will be found.

"This is the first we've found, but I'm not naive enough to think it's the
only one out there. I have a gut feeling it's not going to be our last," he
said.