TWO INJURED IN METH LAB EXPLOSION

Blast Is Latest Sign Of Addictive Drug's Steady Creep From West Into Ontario

MISSISSAUGA -- A sleepy suburban cul-de-sac became a crime scene
under intense scrutiny yesterday after a methamphetamine lab exploded
into flames Sunday night, critically injuring the two occupants,
ripping holes in the roof of the charred house and leaving the
neighbourhood stunned.

The names of the injured men, aged 45 and 33, were not immediately
released. The younger of the two, a father of two small children, was
not expected to survive, police said.

Both were airlifted yesterday to a hospital burn unit in Rochester, N.Y.

The younger man, his wife and two children moved into the rented
semi-detached home on Mariner Court last year, lived there quietly
and caused no trouble, neighbours said.

"It sounds so typical to say, but one would have never guessed,
though nobody knew very much about them," said Norman Rippon, a
vice-principal who lives on the tidy street.

Methamphetamine is the principal ingredient in the fiercely addictive
street drug crystal meth, also known as crank, which has been moving
steadily from west to east in the past few years, wreaking havoc on
rural communities throughout the Prairies and the U.S. Midwest. The
Atlantic provinces have also been badly afflicted.

Last month, the Ontario Provincial Police and RCMP shut down what
they termed a rural "super lab" in the northern Bruce Peninsula,
where they found 30 kilograms of methamphetamine powder and 25
kilograms of crystal meth.

In Oshawa last September, three men were badly burned in a garage
fire that police believe stemmed from meth production, a notoriously
volatile operation. Other meth labs have been unearthed in
Scarborough and York Region.

For Peel Regional Police, the lab was a first. So far, the Greater
Toronto Area has mostly escaped the worst ravages of the drug, said
deputy chief coroner Jim Cairns, who could not recall any recent
meth-related deaths in the region.

Methamphetamine is nonetheless becoming more visible in Ontario and
is commonly used in the manufacture of ecstasy tablets, a sizable
proportion of which is destined for foreign markets, said
Superintendent Ron Allen, who heads drug enforcement for the RCMP in the GTA.

"We've seen [meth] creep east; what's been happening in Western
Canada is now being reflected in Eastern Canada." This latest
incident, Supt. Allen suggested, is a sign of the times.

A 2004 RCMP report described a "strong rise" in the prevalence of
methamphetamine, with 40 crystal meth labs raided that year, compared
with 14 in 1999.

The industry has long been controlled by outlaw bikers and Asian
organized crime groups, police believe, and remains concentrated in
British Columbia and Alberta.

There was no hint of gangsters yesterday on Mariner Court, where the
fire had erupted mid-evening on Sunday, dispatching thick clouds of
black smoke. Residents, however, remained perturbed.

"This is supposed to be a quiet, decent neighbourhood," said Arun
Saini, a 55-year-old limousine driver who recounted an unrelated
shooting in January, two doors down, when a teenager and one of his
friends were shot and wounded by intruders who tried to crash a party.

"These seemed like normal people," Mr. Saini, who watched police and
fire investigators pick their way through the wreckage, said of the
occupants of the house. "You'd see them playing with the kids
outside. . . . They'd have company sometimes or have a drink outside,
nothing unusual."

Mr. Rippon said much the same, describing the mother as "a very nice
young lady, very friendly."

A third neighbour, however, suggested the household had been in flux.

The mother and children had moved away recently, the neighbour said.
Shortly before that, two battered cars that had sat in the driveway
were replaced with new ones.

No criminal charges have been laid so far, said Constable Jennifer
Bryer of Peel Regional Police.

"The investigators are still going through all of it," she said.

In a bid to dent the crystal meth trade, the National Association of
Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities -- which governs the sale of
medications in Canada -- announced this year that grocery stores will
no longer be able to sell many popular cold and allergy remedies
because they contain precursor ingredients used to make crystal meth.

Under the ban, which took effect in April, pharmacies have been
required to move some of those products behind the counter.