TRAFFIC STOP LEADS TO HUGE DRUG BUST

What began as a routine vehicle stop in Scarborough last Friday, ended
with the largest seizure of ecstasy in Canada, police say. Const. John
Linney of 42 Division was on patrol in the Sheppard Avenue and
Shorting Road when he spotted a van being driven with an expired
licence plate validation sticker around 2 a.m. After stopping the van,
a bag of powdered ecstasy was found inside, and the driver and
passenger were arrested, police said.

During an investigation, the drug squad executed search warrants at a
Markham home and a storage facility in Scarborough. That resulted in
the seizure of 161 kilos of powdered ecstasy, 42 kilos of liquid
ecstasy, 177 grams of heroin, 380 kilos of sassafras oil, a chemical
precursor of ecstasy, 45 gallons of other chemical precursors of
ecstasy and $6,000 cash, police said.

In all of last year, 16 kilos of ecstasy was seized.

Linney, 34, who has been on the force for less than three years, said
he has found drugs in vehicles before "but nothing of this magnitude,"
adding, "Other than my marriage, this is definitely the most exciting
thing."

Police displayed the seized drugs on Wednesday during a news
conference at police headquarters where Chief Julian Fantino and
Staff. Insp. Dan Hayes, head of the drug squad, spoke to reporters.

"Just think of the kind of havoc this quantity of drugs would have on
our community," Fantino said. "Much of it would be destined for young
people and much of it ruining lives."

Hayes called it a "great day for policing."

"This is the single largest seizure of domestically produced ecstasy
in Canadian history."

The street value of the seizure is estimated at more than $50
million.

"There's the equivalent of one-and-a-quarter million doses of ecstasy
that you see in front of you here. When you add in the potential from
the precursor chemicals that were seized...we're talking about in
excess of 4 million doses," Hayes told reporters.

"I would be very surprised if what you see before you wasn't destined
for the rest of Canada, probably U.S.A. as well, and I'm certain that
with that number of doses, certainly there's probably dozens of human
lives that have been saved from this seizure."

Ecstasy, a synthetic amphetamine that produces hallucinogenic effects,
has been prevalent in the rave scene for the past decade.

"It has directly been the cause of a number of deaths in and around
Toronto and right across the world," Hayes said. "The average age of
users seems to be dropping. Five or 10 years ago it was the older
teens and young adults...These days we're seeing it at house parties,
high school parties."

Hayes alleged "this multi-million dollar organization" was "flying
under our radar and had it not been for the actions of Const. Linney,
(it) may have gone undetected for who knows how long."

Hayes said that over the last few years, police were seeing more
locally produced ecstasy. "Up until a few years ago, the ecstasy that
we were seizing was produced abroad, generally in Europe."

Hayes said those arrested were landed immigrants who came to Canada
from Hong Kong in 1995.

Kai Wing Tang, 26, and Wai Chung Ng, 25, both of Markham, face drug
charges.