DRUGS, SMOKES AND FRAUD

Organized crime in Canada boasts a long list of specialities -- many
potentially deadly but all aimed at raking in cash, mostly from drugs.

The 2009 annual report on the state of organized crime in Canada
released yesterday at the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police in
Charlottetown, P. E. I., states the approximately 750 gangs continue
to focus on drugs and have made Canada a major producer and exporter
of ecstasy and marijuana.

While the report highlights a few legal successes against organized
crime groups, including the Hells Angels in Quebec and Ontario, it
also indicates underworld markets are thriving.

"Contraband tobacco in Canada is primarily supplied by organized
crime groups based in Quebec and Ontario," the report states in its highlights.

"Its manufacturing largely occurs on aboriginal reserves in Quebec
and Ontario as well as some northern U. S. reserves where it is
smuggled into Canada."

Fraud remains lucrative, the report states.

Groups are focused on making fake birth certificates, driver's
licences, health cards, social insurance number cards and passports.

The report notes in August, 2008, the Canada Revenue Agency alerted
taxpayers about a scam where letters asking for personal information
were fraudulently identified as coming from the federal body.

The scam moved onto the Internet last March with emails requesting
banking and passport information to update records and process refund claims.