COCAINE TAKES TOLL ON POWELL RIVER SYSTEM

RCMP corporal points out the need for community involvement to reduce
the use of illicit drugs

Police say some of the people moving to the Powell River area are down
on their luck and have a tainted background.

"One of the reasons they're coming here is they can get into
affordable rentals or purchase property and get into illegal drug
activity," said RCMP Corporal Dennis Blanch.

Crack cocaine use is on the rise in Powell River. "It's the drug of
the day," Blanch said. "A lot of people are dealing to the blue collar
crowd who still think that cocaine is a recreational drug. They don't
think that it will have an everlasting effect on them, but it does."

He points to what's happening in Powell River right now. "Break-ins,
assaults, overdoses, motor vehicle accidents, a number of things
related to drug use or drug abuse."

Crack cocaine is seriously addictive. "We talked to a couple of crack
cocaine users here and they say it is probably the worst drug out
there. The highs are short-lived and there is a never-ending craving
for the next toke on the pipe."

Not only does crack cocaine carry with it a dependency burden, there's
also the financial burden. At $40 for half a gram on the street, crack
cocaine is costly to those who use it, as well as to the community and
to society.

"It creates a whole parameter of issues that we as a community are
left to deal with," said Blanch.

He flips through the file of a man by the name of Eduar Melvin
Banegas-Raudales who was awaiting trial in Powell River Provincial
Court on August 4, 2004 but was arrested by police on an immigration
warrant before he made it inside the courtroom.

"This guy was dealing with crack cocaine," he pointed out.

On July 25, 2004, an immigration warrant for Banegas-Raudales's arrest
was issued by Citizenship and Immigration Canada as a removal order.
Immigration officers attended Banegas-Raudales's residence at the
Kispiox Village Reserve at New Hazelton, BC but were unable to locate
him. A wanted poster of Banegas-Raudales was then prepared and given
to the New Hazelton area police detachment and to Powell River RCMP.
Because he had lived in Powell River in the past, officials believed
he might return to this area.

Information on Banegas-Raudales's warrant states that he entered
Canada on April 2, 2001, at or near the Douglas Border Crossing, and
made a refugee claim two days later.

On May 16, 2001, charges recommended by the Vancouver Police
Department for possession of trafficking cocaine were approved and he
was charged. He was convicted on these charge on November 8. On August
26, he was charged again with possession for the purpose of
trafficking. A deportation order was issued on May 23, 2002.

Banegas-Raudales and his girlfriend, later wife, Jessica Muldon, first
came to the attention of Powell River RCMP in 2002. On September 4 of
that year, local RCMP received a complaint of drug dealing taking
place out of a residence on Queens Avenue. They were told a
Mexican-looking male and his girlfriend were dealing drugs from their
residence and on the street in front of their residence.

In May 2003 police received information from a group of neighbours
that they believed a Honduran male (Banegas-Raudales was born in
Honduras) and his girlfriend were dealing drugs in their
neighbourhood. It was also believed that the couple was operating a
dial-a-dope operation.

On September 3, police arrested Banegas-Raudales and Muldon, who were
returning from Vancouver on the bus with their one-year-old baby. They
found a large diaper wrapped at the bottom of the bag. In it was four
ounces of rock cocaine with an approximate street value of $10,000.

The police report notes that while Banegas-Raudales was a refugee in
Canada and applying for immigration status he was convicted of one
trafficking charge, had another waiting for disposition and then was
up on a third charge.

"To make matters even worse they are trafficking within one block of
Edgehill Elementary School and are moving drugs around and selling
drugs around a one-year-old child," states the police report.

When Banegas-Raudales was arrested at the courthouse in August 2004,
he was put on a plane headed for Honduras. En route, the plane touched
down in the United States and he was removed by American immigration
officials.

On December 21, 2004, Muldon was found guilty in Smithers Provincial
Court for possession for the purpose of trafficking. She was sentenced
to four months in jail but was given credit for time served.

Meanwhile, Powell River RCMP stress the issue of illicit drugs is a
community issue that everyone needs to get behind. "We need members of
the community to come forward to advise of the activities they see.
Things need to change, but the only way I see change happening is for
the community to speak out," said Blanch.