COKE BUST TO CURB STREET CRIME?

Police Expect To See A Temporary Decrease

A weekend bust of almost a quarter million dollars worth of cocaine
at an alleged Portage Avenue drug lair will trigger a drop in street
crime, a police officer said Thursday.

Sgt. Rick Guyader of the Winnipeg Police Service's organized crime
unit said Sunday's seizure will reduce the amount of crack on the
street, meaning some users won't have anything to buy so they won't
pull gas bar robberies or break-ins to pay for a fix.

"It's a significant hit," Guyader said, adding police have noticed a
drop in crime before when they put a big drug cell out of business.

But he added that drop doesn't last long. Someone is always quick to
fill in that gap to supply what appears to be Winnipeg's insatiable
taste for cheap crack cocaine.

"These guys will be scrambling because they don't want to lose their
customers."

The seizure is just one of several over the past year in which police
have snagged alleged large-scale drug dealers in the process of
handling their wares.

Guyader said in this case the person behind the operation escaped
capture, but police haven't given up looking for him.

That person never touches the drugs -- he always has others do it for him.

"They only lay their hands on the money," he said.

And it's big money.

Police estimate the cell working full-time put about five kilos a
week of cocaine on the street. They started by buying pure cocaine by
the kilo from sources on the West Coast and breaking it down, taking
a kilo fresh off the boat from Colombia and diluting it by half with
benzocaine. That produced two kilos, which they'd sell off to lower
level dealers. They also baked up batches of crack, which was
distributed by the ounce to street dealers.

Conservatively, they were raking in thousands of dollars a week.

"The money attached to it is pretty hard to resist," Guyader said,
adding people at this level lead a life of supposed glamour
club-hopping and hanging out with gangsters.

Police began their investigation of the group back in January, but
only recently got enough intelligence to do the raid on the weekend.
That's because the suspects were cagey and continually took evasive
action to avoid being picked off by police.

"They're good at it," Guyader said as the WPS displayed a table top
full of kilo bricks of pure cocaine, freshly baked pans of crack,
weigh scales and a large orange hydraulic press used to re-pack kilo
amounts of cocaine after diluting it with benzocaine.

"They're businessmen, as you can see. They've got it down to a science."

In total, police seized

* 7.3 kilograms of cocaine (powder and Crack) with a street value of
approximately $242,000;

* 10 kilograms of legally available Benzocaine, used as a cutting
agent with an estimated street value of $10,000;

* More than $5,000 cash.

Amandeep Bhullar, 21, was arrested in the suite and is charged with
possessing a substance for the purposes of trafficking and production
of a controlled substance.

Sukhraj Singh Saran, 19, and Iqbal Singh Singh, 20, were arrested
nearby a short time later. They are charged with multiple drug
trafficking offences.

All three suspects are detained at the Winnipeg Remand Centre.

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Big dealers

City police have set their targets on large-scale dealers. Here are
some examples of recent arrests:

Aug. 19: Police raid an apartment in the 2500 block of Portage Avenue
used to repackage and distribute powdered cocaine and crack cocaine.
Officers seize more than seven kilos of cocaine worth about $242,000
on the street. Three people are charged.

June 19: Police seize 15 kilograms of cocaine worth up to $1.8
million on the street, $525,000 in cash and 14 firearms, including
two fully automatic sub-machine guns, in three suites at a Donald
Street apartment block. Officers said the operation was a centre for
crack cocaine production and money collection. A man and his
girlfriend are charged.

June 12: Police find a kilo of cocaine and a .40-calibre handgun at a
residence in the Maples. Officers also seize 30 rounds of ammunition
and $2,000 cash. Two 18-year-old men were arrested at the scene and
face multiple charges. The crack had a potential street value of up to $20,000.

May 4: Officers seize four kilos of cocaine when they raid an
apartment at Webb Place to find the suspects in the middle of a
"cook," turning powdered cocaine into crack. Five people are charged.

That raid was in connection to an earlier Feb. 23, 2005 seizure of
almost $140,000 in cash that was set to be shipped to Vancouver --
money the police believe was payment for as much as 15 kilos of
cocaine. Officers also seized two handguns, ammunition, a pair of
stun guns and a bullet-proof vest.

March 13: Police seize crack cocaine, marijuana and a sawed-off
shotgun during raids at two homes in north Winnipeg. Officers seized
236 grams of marijuana and 175 grams of crack cocaine valued at
$14,000 potential street value. Three people are charged.

Dec. 13, 2006: Police seize two kilo bricks of almost pure cocaine,
two kilos of crack cocaine, three lbs. of freshly picked marijuana,
14 ounces of magic mushrooms (Psilocybin), several hundred ecstasy
tablets, an electronic stun gun and two semi-automatic handguns, a
nine-millimetre and .45-calibre, in a raid at an address in Elmwood.
One man is charged. The seized drugs have combined street value of
approximately $163,000.

Jan. 18, 2006: Police seize two kilos of methamphetamine at a
downtown hotel. The seizure was largest made by police to that date.
The estimated street value is $90,000. Two Vancouver men were charged.