B.C. GANG WAR MAY STRIKE ALBERTA

Calgary Police Say Criminal Groups Constantly Moving Back And Forth
Over Boundary

EDMONTON -- Police fear the bloody gang war erupting in the Vancouver
area could spill over into Alberta.

In the past week, four men have been fatally shot in B.C.'s Lower
Mainland as rival groups fight each other over the lucrative drug market.

A total of 10 people have died in the violence since mid-October.

Gangs in Edmonton and Calgary have direct ties with the same criminal
groups involved in the B.C. shootings, said Staff-Sgt. Kevin Galvin
of the Edmonton Police Service's organized crime unit.

"Some of the frictions that you see in relationships there may ripple
out here because they are all interconnected," Galvin said yesterday.

He said intelligence reports shared by municipal police forces and
the RCMP show there's growing friction between gangs over the
lucrative illegal marijuana and cocaine markets.

He said prices for high-grade pot known as B.C. bud have fallen to a
point where competing criminal groups are fighting to keep profits.

Alberta's booming economy has also created a huge demand for cocaine,
much of which is brought in from B.C.

"This is a business issue that is erupting now," said Galvin.

In Edmonton, more than 24 gangs are involved in the drug trade. Some
groups are recruiting high school students to deliver cocaine in what
amounts to "dial-a-dope" delivery services.

The drug trade in Calgary is just as lucrative, with about 12 crime
groups in the city.

Three weeks ago, two gang members were wounded in shootings in
residential neighbourhoods. Two others gang members were fatally shot
earlier in the year.

"The Calgary Police Service is very aware that the situation in
Vancouver could happen in Calgary because our gangs are
non-territorial and they do move to the Lower Mainland to Calgary and
back and forth," said Acting Staff-Sgt. Martin Schiavetta of the
Calgary Police Service's organized crime centre.

"The biggest threat to public safety is public shootings. Most of
these shootings lately have occurred in residential areas in daylight hours."

Police in Alberta say the increase in gang violence is making
officers extra vigilant, but there is little they can do at this
point except to study gang activity and keep tabs on gang members.