TEENS LURED INTO DRUG WORLD

Police said two Hamilton teenagers charged with importing $1.2 million of
ecstasy pills likely would have made only a few thousand dollars for their
role as mules in an organized drug-trafficking ring. RCMP Staff Sergeant
Bill Matheson, in charge of the Pearson International Airport drug squad,
said young people are lured with promises of a quick buck and a free trip.

"A free trip, a few thousand, and, hey, they're happy. A few thousand to
them is a lot. And they don't realize what they are getting themselves
into," Matheson said.

"(Organized criminals) lie to the kids and say they won't have any problems
at customs because, 'We have a customs officer paid off. You won't have any
trouble. You'll walk right through. And if you do get caught we'll pay your
legal fees.'

"But when the individuals get arrested, they don't see anybody. There is no
custom officer paid off. It's just a scam."

Police said the teens, 16 and 17, were arrested at the Toronto airport
Friday night with more than 34,000 ecstasy pills strapped to their legs.
They were returning from a one-week trip to Paris.

Police said teens are often used as couriers in the drug trade because it's
believed they appear less suspicious to customs officers.

And if they do get caught, they face more lenient sentences because they are
protected under the Young Offenders Act.

"(The criminals are) pretty ruthless ... They don't care who brings the dope
in," said Detective Sergeant Rick Wills, of Hamilton-Wentworth police's drug
and vice squad.

"They kind of prey on them and assure them there will be no problem."

Yves Lavigne, the author of several books on the underworld, said the youths
could have been set up by the smuggler in charge of the operation.

He said many mules might have come back on the same flight that day. Because
the attention of the inspectors was focused on a few individuals, the other
smugglers would have cleared customs more easily.

Customs Canada said there's nothing to indicate the teens were anywhere but
in Paris during their week overseas. But police say the drugs might have
come from Amsterdam, since there is no indication France is a hub for the
chemical drug, which is produced in makeshift labs in many countries,
including Canada.

Police say this week's seizure put a dent in the supply to southern Ontario
but it's only one source. They said the teens were merely couriers and the
ring remains intact.

"They lost some of their product, but think of what we didn't get," said
Matheson. "It's a sad state of affairs when you have organized crime
bringing in chemicals that mainly are targeting kids. The people who are
doing this should be sent to prison for a very long time."

The bust was the fourth this year at the airport. All the people caught were
coming from France, but police believe the pills came from Amsterdam. The
Netherlands underworld is known for its production of chemical drugs.

In January alone, Customs inspectors seized 72,800 pills, which they valued
at about $2.5 million. That's six times more drugs than in all of last year,
when 12,925 pills worth $460,000 were seized during seven busts.

The increase highlights the rapidly growing demand for the drug.

"This phase is still in its infancy," said Corporal John Rae of the RCMP's
Toronto North Detachment Drug Section. "We are several years -- at least
three years -- before our ecstasy craze starts phasing out."

Rae said ecstasy first appeared in the gay community about 10 years ago. It
then expanded to the growing rave scene that had started a few years earlier
in Europe.

The feeling of euphoria produced by ecstasy was the perfect fit to go with
the spirit of the raves, which are underground all-night dance parties.

As the demand has increased over the past couple of years, more people have
started to import and produce the drug locally. The Russian mafia, according
to Rae, is the chief importer of the drug at the moment.

In December, more than 30 people, identified by police as members of the
Eastern European community in Canada, were arrested for various offences in
Toronto.

The charges included importing and trafficking of ecstasy. The route used by
this group, Rae said, is probably the same as the one used by the people
arrested at the airport last month. Couriers try to reduce the chances of
arrest by returning from a country not known as a source.

The bulk of the pills are produced in illicit laboratories and sell for as
little as $3 dollar a pop. They are then sold in Canada for $20-$40 per pill
and in the United States for $30-$40 US a pill.

The Toronto area is the primary source of ecstasy exported to the United
States, he said. "It's easier for the criminals to spring into Canada and
cross the border with it."

And because the demand is so strong, there is still room for local
production, said Detective Constable John Belleghem of the Toronto police
force's clandestine laboratory section. "I tend to think the ecstasy sold by
the bikers is produced here in Canada."

Rae also believes some biker groups are producing ecstasy in local
laboratories. If they become more organized they could produce pills on a
massive scale for as little as 50 cents a piece.

But Lavigne, the author of several books on the biker world, said he would
be surprised to find many bikers involved with the production and
distribution of ecstasy.

"So far the bikers haven't touched ecstasy," he said. "It's too dangerous to
play with because it can kill too many people." And bad publicity hurts the
bikers' business.

Police believe ecstasy, which is used mainly by a younger crowd, will be
rejected by society in the long run because it can kill. That rejection will
make it easier for police to crack down on the producers and sellers.

"That's the kind of things gangs are very wary of," Lavigne said.

Moreover, the outlaw biker organizations are known primarily for their
distribution networks. Ecstasy does not need an elaborate distribution
network because it is sold almost exclusively at raves, not in the streets.

"Any chemist can produce ecstasy ... and that's why there are dangerous
batches out there," Lavigne said. "But the saddest thing is that parents let
their kids go (to raves) because there is no alcohol."

The chief coroner of Ontario announced last week he will hold an inquest
into one of nine ecstasy-related deaths in southern Ontario last year. That
inquest, in the spring, will probe the death of a Ryerson business student
who died Oct. 10. He had consumed the drug at a rave in an underground
parking garage in Toronto.

The other victims were all between the ages of 20 and 30.

Police hope the inquest will examine the nature of the drug and its dangers,
and shine some light on raves and the culture surrounding them.