DRUG BROKERS SPEED COCAINE INTO B.C.

B.C.-based crime groups rely on sophisticated north-south networks to
smuggle cocaine into Canada and, in turn, send marijuana and synthetic
drugs south, Kim Bolan writes.

Deep in the jungles of Peru or Colombia, a kilo of cocaine can be
bought for as little as $3,000. By the time the lucrative white powder
makes the 7,000-plus-kilometre journey to the streets of Vancouver, a
kilo is worth as much as $30,000.

It is that huge increase that fuels the greed of B.C.-based crime
groups, which have developed sophisticated north-south networks to
smuggle coke into Canada and their currency commodities -- marijuana
and synthetic drugs -- south.

Most major criminal gangs here get their cocaine from Los Angeles-area
distribution centres run by Mexican cartels, which sell it for $17,000
to $20,000 U.S. a kilo, says Supt. Pat Fogarty of the Combined Forces
Special Enforcement Unit.

That means B.C. gangs must make their own transportation arrangements
from L.A. to Vancouver, clandestinely crossing the Washington-B.C.
border.

"Some may have a good contact that actually lives down in Mexico ...
Some may have someone living there six months of the year to take care
of the co-ordination," Fogarty said. "Some fly off and live in other
parts of Central America for the purpose exclusively of being a
contact to arrange things. It is common."

More often, Canadian drug-smuggling gangsters use brokers to get the
cocaine into the U.S. "It depends on how connected you are. Some
people can only go through distribution centres in L.A.," Fogarty said.

That is exactly what happened when B.C. smuggler Daniel LeClerc was
nabbed with 144 kilos of coke in September 2006.

The interception of LeClerc launched the CFSEU investigation into the
United Nations gang's drug-trafficking activities.

Fogarty said LeClerc, who remains in a U.S. prison, would have
obtained the cocaine from an L.A. distributor of a Mexican cartel.

Other B.C. gangs also have been caught red-handed in the U.S. Rob
Shannon was sentenced in Seattle in March to 20 years for leading the
transportation division of an international drug ring working for the
Hells Angels in B.C. U.S. authorities seized 585 kilos of cocaine,
3,200 kilos of "B.C. bud" and $3,517,230 U.S. as part of the probe.

While some B.C. crime groups broker through L.A. or Mexico,
better-connected gangs can buy direct in South America, Fogarty said.

The advantage of direct buying is the price: they can get the cocaine
for between $3,000 and $6,000 a kilo "depending on how far into the
jungles you go," he said.

The disadvantage is the difficult challenge of getting the product
thousands of kilometres across several borders.

Right in the middle of the drug route is Mexico's cartel war, which
has resulted in more than 7,000 murders since 2008. The Mexican
government has deployed more than 36,000 soldiers in the most violent
regions of the country.

That has pushed up the kilogram price of cocaine, forcing some B.C.
crime groups to get more creative and produce more synthetic drugs,
said Supt. Brian Cantera, who heads the RCMP's regional drug section.

"The impact that the drug war has had in terms of our region and
Canada is simply this: it has made cocaine less attainable or not as
easily attainable and as a result of that it has driven the price up,
albeit that price seems to have subsided (lately)," Cantera said. "It
has forced some of these crime groups to become more active in other
areas -- such as clandestine lab production of synthetic drugs. That
is the real impact of it."

And B.C. specialties -- ecstasy and crystal meth -- have been exported
far and wide, Cantera said.

They are produced here in larger quantities than elsewhere because
"our precursor laws are not as stringent as those in the U.S."

The chemicals needed to make those products are being legally imported
into Canada in large quantities, so "these crime groups have reached
into those areas to further their profits," Cantera said.

Police have intercepted synthetic drugs from B.C. in Australia, Japan,
throughout Europe and across the U.S.

On Friday, two B.C. men were sentenced to life in prison in Australia
for smuggling more than $130 million worth of ecstasy and cocaine
hidden in computers.

Most police in B.C. do not think the Mexican violence has led to the
increase in gang violence in B.C., although inter-gang ripoffs of
cocaine and marijuana are always a source of tension.

"To say that their war is having a direct impact on the violence, I
don't think so. It has made the market more difficult to obtain
cocaine," Cantera said. "Some of the individuals who are involved in
drug trafficking have had to find other means to support that income."