GANGS SKIRT EDGE OF BORDER CITY

Asian Organized Crime Poses Minimal Threat To Lloydminster

Lloydminster may have got a brief mention in a national report on organized
crime, but the RCMP say there's no need to worry about gangsters battling it
out on Border City streets.

"We haven't seen an increase in organized crime," Lloydminster RCMP General
Investigation Service Cpl. Tom McNulty said.

"As far as the bikers going through town, that's exactly what they're doing
- - going through. The motorcycle gangs have traditionally supplied the drugs
to Lloydminster. However, others are moving in. They're not coming to Lloyd.
Our dealers are going to them to pick (the drugs) up."

The dealers are going to Asian gangs which have set themselves up as players
in Canada's drug scene.

The Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (CISC) report presents a
comprehensive review of organized crime groups and their activities, based
on intelligence and investigation reports from Canadian and international
police.

The report relies on intelligence from CISC-member agencies across Canada.
CISC also works in close partnership with the RCMP Criminal Intelligence
Directorate for the collection and analysis of intelligence on organized crime.

The report says Asian-based organized crime groups are the primary suppliers
of heroin and are increasingly involved in cocaine trafficking.

The report also says Asian gangs are making moves into the Border City in
reaction to the new Hells Angels chapter in Saskatoon. Asian drug
traffickers have stepped up their activities in an effort to maintain their
clientele in a newly competitive midwest market. Asian groups have also made
a concerted move into Lloydminster, an area that has historically been
supplied by outlaw motorcycle gangs.

Recent busts in Lloydminster have put a dent in the local drug trade, but
there are always more willing to risk everything and step in to fill the
void, all of them independent operators.

"In all the cases we've had, the drug dealers went to the gangs. They'd gone
to Edmonton to pick up the drugs and then returned," McNulty said.

But that doesn't mean city residents will be seeing gun battles in the
streets any time soon.

"Just the fact we don't have much of an Asian community in Lloydminster
helps keep that down," McNulty said.

"They'll try and recruit people to sell drugs locally. We haven't seen the
gangs here at all."

The significance of Lloydminster being mentioned in a national report on
organized crime however isn't lost upon McNulty.

"We do a good job of reporting our intelligence," he said.

"We've shown the drugs in Lloydminster originated with Asian gangs. Every
time we get a whiff of anything, we report it. We stay on top of the issues
and have a handle on whose supplying the dope.

"We are concerned about the report and organized crime, but we are on top of
it. Our intelligence shows us it's not here now, but we're keeping an eye on
it."