VIET GANGS TAKE POT TRADE

Canada's Left Coast Finds A New Cash Crop And Angels To Do The
Selling

WEST VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Jean Simpson was out weeding her
perennial beds on a brilliant spring afternoon last month when two vans
pulled up in front of her house, disgorging a squad of police officers in
flak jackets who began marching double time down Kenwood Street.

After knocking on the front door four houses away, they drew their
revolvers, smashed into the million-dollar mansion and emerged minutes
later with their quarry: 78 potted plants.

"I suppose this is not exactly what you'd expect in what's supposed to be
the richest and safest community in Canada," said Mrs Simpson, a real
estate agent.

But these days, it is hardly an unusual occurrence. With so many houses put
up for rent by absentee owners, Mrs Simpson's exclusive neighbourhood has
become a favoured location for British Columbia's fastest-growing industry:
cultivation of some of the world's most sought-after marijuana.

After years of selective breeding and cutting-edge cultivation techniques,
experts say that "B.C. Bud" has three to five times the potency, or THC
levels, of marijuana grown outdoors in Mexico or the Caribbean.

And from its benign roots as a backyard avocation of aging hippies, the
marijuana trade here has grown into a sophisticated, multibillion-dollar
industry that rivals forestry and tourism in its economic impact and is
controlled largely by Vietnamese gangs and the Hell's Angels motorcycle crew.

With most of the marijuana destined for markets south of the border, US
officials have been pressing Canada to take more aggressive steps to halt
the flow of B.C. Bud.

Raids on indoor growing houses are now daily occurrences, while special
teams of US and Canadian police, using the latest military technology,
prowl British Columbia's hundreds of kilometres of unfenced border every
night in search of "mules" carrying hockey equipment bags stuffed with
marijuana.

It is no surprise that British Columbia has become a centre of excellence
for the marijuana trade. Much like California, the region became a haven
for baby boomers seeking an alternative lifestyle in the 1970s, and their
liberal and libertarian values continue to colour life on Canada's "Left
Coast."

People can be seen lighting up joints in bars and coffee shops or even on a
central street while certain cafes boast dishes laced with "Mary Jane".

By the early 1990s, marijuana had become a cottage industry, particularly
in rural areas where declines in the region's traditional fishing, mining
and logging industries had left legions underemployed.

Using 1,000-watt metal halide light bulbs and special indoor growing
techniques to produce ever more potent plants, local growers found a new
cash crop for export.

Local merchants began to do a brisk business in hydroponic equipment (there
are now 29 stores listed in the Vancouver yellow pages) while specialised
dial-a-harvest teams sprang up to cut, dry and package the crop.

By the end of the decade, 450 grams of B.C. Bud was fetching C$3,000
(S$3,460) across the border in Washington state and C$6,000 on the streets
of New York and Los Angeles.

According to Canadian police, it was the local chapter of the Hell's
Angels, reputed to be the richest in North America, that began to bring
disciplined organisation to the marijuana trade, integrating a network of
independent growers with an effective distribution network in the US.

Beginning in 1995, however, the motorcyclists began to be edged out by
Vietnamese gangs that not only recruited low-cost immigrant workers to the
trade but also were more willing to use beatings and murder to shut out
competitors.

"The Vietnamese," a U.S. law enforcement official said, "make the Hell's
Angels look like angels."

Just last month, for example, a 24-year-old Vietnamese immigrant named John
Ly was beaten to death in his rented house in Burnaby, a Vancouver suburb,
where he lived with his wife and children. The police found 140 marijuana
plants growing in the basement. It was the fourth such gangland-style
murder in eight weeks.

Investigators say the Vietnamese growers follow a disciplined routine. Each
gang has specialists -- usually nice, well-spoken young couples -- who
lease houses from property managers. They never move in, but instead send a
professional crew to hook up the necessary heating and ventilation systems.

The crew also arranges an electrical bypass so the local power company is
unable to detect any sudden increase in power use required by the high-watt
bulbs.

Then, a recent immigrant with little or no knowledge of the rest of the
operation is offered the opportunity to live with his family in the house
in return for watering the plants and keeping out of sight. A crew is sent
in every few months to harvest the marijuana and prepare it for export.