ASIAN GANGSTERS IN COURT TODAY

Fabian Dawson, Staff Reporter The Province Police say they've busted an
Asian crime gang so powerful it had the capacity to control the price of
heroin in North America.

Twelve of the mobsters were arrested yesterday in the Vancouver area, and
police are looking for more.

Four were shipped to Victoria to appear in court today, said RCMP Staff-Sgt.
Patrick Convey. The others are to appear in court in Vancouver. Charges are
also expected in Burma and Hong Kong.

"There are many police organizations involved and the suspects were involved
in all kinds of criminal operations. It was a big Asian crime conspiracy,"
said Convey, who wouldn't comment further.

A news conference is set for today.

Sources said the Hong Kong police, Vancouver police and RCMP worked on the
arrests.

"They had the capacity to control the price of heroin from Asia by either
flooding the market with high-grade heroin or stockpiling it," said a source.

In addition to heroin smuggling, the gangsters are behind the manufacture
and distribution of fake credit cards, extortion and the export of stolen
cars -- all signature crimes of Asian crime gangs, or triads.

The Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada recently alerted the House of
Commons that Asian criminals dominate every level of the heroin trade in
Canada, from importation to street-level distribution.

The agency said the triads also smuggle and traffic multi-kilogram
quantities of cocaine.

Its report said the Dai Huen Jai, or Big Circle Boys, is the main Asian
organized crime group in B.C., dealing in credit-card fraud, drug smuggling
and murders.

One of the gang's credit-card frauds in 1997 resulted in a loss to Canadian
banking institutions of more than $16 million, the largest single loss of
its kind.

The gang has ties to Toronto, the U.S. and Hong Kong.

The report also said the Lotus Gang, with more than 100 members and
connections to the Hells Angels and Indo-Canadian crime groups, has been
active in Vancouver with cocaine and heroin importation and trafficking,
credit-card fraud, extortion and cellular-telephone cloning.

The report said Vietnamese gangs, some of whom are ethnic Chinese, varying
in size from 200 to 300 members, control much of Vancouver's street-level
drug trade. They are also involved in the contraband-tobacco trade.