DRUG GANGS BEWARE

City gang unit detectives and RCMP officers are teaming up to smash
drug-trafficking gangs which are spreading tentacles into the communities
surrounding Edmonton. RCMP Supt. Brian McLeod said Edmonton cops are doing
such a good job that drug traffickers are moving into towns like Leduc,
Sherwood Park, Spruce Grove and St. Albert.

"The Edmonton Police Service has done such an effective job that it has
pressured these thugs into surrounding areas," said MacLeod, head of the
RCMP's recently created Provincial Capital District.

"This has led to a cycle of violence that I find quite disturbing.

"In the Greater Edmonton area we are seeing homicides, attempted homicides,
kidnappings and knifings."

McLeod said the violence is part of a turf war as rival Edmonton gangs
battle for control of the drug trade in the Capital region.

"Every community is experiencing some level of infiltration by the drug
traffickers," he added.

McLeod said part of the RCMP's response is to integrate officers in the
Edmonton gang unit.

"We have been sharing intelligence but now we will be working on the street
shoulder to shoulder," he explained.

"This will give us real-time intelligence about what is going on."

Edmonton Police Service Acting Supt. Rick Bohachyk of Edmonton's organized
crime branch enthusiastically welcomed the integration of Mounties into the
gang unit.

"This will be a two-way street," he said.

"If we allow these guys to set up in the bedroom communities they will
continue their operations in Edmonton as well. We have to do everything
legally possible to disrupt their activities wherever they are going on."

McLeod said there will also be more co-operation between not only the RCMP
detachments around Edmonton but also at a provincial and national level.

"It used to be local issues were dealt with using local resources," he
said. "I'm not interested in further dispersion of the drug traffickers, I
want to see their operations completely dismantled."

The RCMP are also working on a new computer file-management system which
will make information sharing on the activities of the drug pushers easier
between police agencies.

On Tuesday, RCMP charged 35 people with drug-related offences following a
seven-month operation in the Leduc area.