DRUG SWEEP SUSPECTS WERE OUT ON BAIL

One of 96 people charged in a crackdown at SkyTrain stations was a refugee
claimant who had been charged five times, Mayor Owen says.

Most of the 96 adults charged in a recent Vancouver crackdown on drug
trafficking near SkyTrain stations were on bail at the time and the mayor
says one, a recent refugee claimant, was charged five separate times during
the month-long operation.

Mayor Philip Owen said police told him the refugee claimant, who arrived in
Canada Dec. 9, was charged with trafficking in Vancouver on Dec. 20, the
first day of the drug sweep. He was charged four more times before the
operation ended on Jan. 12.

"Why is this person on our streets?" Owen asked. "It's getting pretty
scary."

The federal justice department, which is prosecuting these cases, says the
Vancouver sweep nabbed 20 people out on bail for previous drug charges.

In total roughly 56 of the 96 adults faced outstanding federal or provincial
criminal charges at the time of the sweep. Seven young offenders were also
charged in the Vancouver operation.

These sobering new statistics illustrate a concern expressed by Vancouver
Chief Constable Terry Blythe at a news conference held last week to announce
how many suspects were charged in the sweep.

Blythe questioned whether the courts would stop offenders from heading back
on to the street once they were in custody.

The Vancouver crackdown was part of a larger, joint drug-enforcement effort
called Project Focus that also involved police in Surrey, New Westminster
and Burnaby -- the three other cities along the SkyTrain line.

Police in these four cities rounded up 157 suspects in a bid to stop blatant
drug-dealing along the rapid-transit line.

The suspects face some 200 charges. Sixty-three are refugee claimants,
mostly from Honduras.

Owen said the percentage of suspects with previous drug offences and refugee
claims is disturbingly similar to what Vancouver police reported to him
following an earlier sweep in October that resulted in 81 charges.

"These two sweeps have just got staggering and terrifying statistics coming
out of them," the mayor said. "If we don't get ahold of it, we are going to
be in real trouble."

Owen said the solution requires action on several fronts: more policing,
tougher sentences for drug offences, specific penalties for refugee
claimants who commit crimes, and increased resources for treating drug
addiction.

Federal justice department officials at Vancouver provincial court compiled
statistics only on the 96 adult suspects charged in the city in the most
recent sweep. The same statistics were not available earlier this week for
the other cities.

All 96 accused in Vancouver are charged with trafficking in crack cocaine,
which has replaced heroin as the street drug of choice in the Lower Mainland
in recent years.

The adult suspects range from 19 to 49 years old. More than half are under
age 30.

As of last Thursday, half of the 96 accused had been arrested.

Of these, the court ordered nine accused detained until trial, seven
remained in jail because bail had not been resolved, one pleaded guilty and
the rest were released on bail.

The one suspect who pleaded guilty, Douglas Wright, was sentenced to three
months in jail and 33 months' probation.

Wright has a lengthy criminal record, which includes 28 previous
convictions -- not all for drug offences. However, court records show that
as recently as April 15, 1999, he also received a three-month prison
sentence for drug-trafficking.

Three of the suspects charged in Vancouver were also charged one or more
times during the joint police operation in other cities along the SkyTrain
line.

Vancouver Police media liaison Constable Anne Drennan said Tuesday that
charges in multiple locations underscore Blythe's concern that drug dealers
use SkyTrain as transportation to reach their customers.

A rock of crack cocaine sells on the street for $10. It resembles a jagged
pine nut in both colour and size, an extremely portable commodity that is
easily concealed from police.

Drennan said most young people would never use an intravenous drug like
heroin, but some do experiment with crack because it can be smoked.

"So that does make a difference to the kind of customer you see," she said.

And as a result some dealers turn to SkyTrain to reach young customers
outside Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and in the suburbs, Drennan said.