DRUG DEATH HEATS UP

Mounties Now Know Who Was Last Seen With Asian Kingpin

Mounties believe they know who kidnapped and murdered a Calgary Asian
drug-gang kingpin -- and their hunt has switched to Edmonton.

One of the key players is already locked up on unrelated charges, and the
RCMP anticipate charges in the murder will soon be laid.

RCMP say their crackdown as they hunt the killers of Tai Duy Duong, 36, has
been so intense, it's shut down much of the Asian gang drug trade here.

Duong's body, riddled with bullets, was found dumped in his van outside
Cochrane on Jan. 10.

Police discovered he'd been kidnapped several days earlier after leaving the
Dream City cafe at 233 Centre. St., where he'd been talking with up to a
dozen Asian people.

The RCMP now knows who the people were sitting with Duong, said Calgary Cpl.
Patrick Webb.

"Tips from the public have assisted us in identifying several young
Vietnamese males from Edmonton, who we believe are involved in the abduction
and subsequent murder of Duong," he said.

A murder squad of seven Calgary investigators from the RCMP major crime unit
is being sent to Edmonton.

The Mounties aren't saying whether Duong's murder was part of any Asian gang
war -- though investigators have pegged Duong's access to drugs and cash as
the probable motive for his slaying.

In Edmonton, police are dealing with five deaths in Asian gang-related
incidents -- two men found shot dead, two who fell to their deaths from a
balcony during a raid, and one shot dead by police.