VANCOUVER HIT BY DRUG-RELATED KILLINGS

Indian immigrant community caught up in cycle of violence that has claimed
76 lives so far; gang members often from well-off families

VANCOUVER - The killings were brazen, often carried out execution-style,
police said.

The most famous case involved a masked man who walked up to a notorious drug
dealer on a dance floor and fired a bullet into his head behind the ear.

In the past 13 years, police have reported 76 young men killed in the
Vancouver area in gang-related violence. The authorities blame drug deals
gone bad and local turf wars, involving mainly well-to-do young people of
Indian descent.

Immigrant community leaders in Vancouver complain of police inaction. Police
say they have tried, but have been unable to develop leads that would stop
the violence.

'They are Indo-Canadians killing Indo-Canadians,' said Mr Kash Heed,
commanding officer of the 3rd Police District in Vancouver.

Canadians are not accustomed to seeing widespread gun violence at home.
Canada, with strict firearms laws, has lower levels of such crimes than does
the United States.

'The community is quite upset and worried about this violence and killing,'
said Mr Balwant Singh Gill, president of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, one
of the largest Sikh temples in North America, with 37,000 members.

The gangs deal mainly in marijuana, according to police, and specialise in a
popular variety grown in the province called BC bud.

'It is often exchanged for cocaine, cash or firearms. It is a deal between
two criminal gangs, one on the south side of the border and one on the north
side, guns for marijuana,' said Constable Alex Borden of the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police.

In Blaine, Washington, Mr Joe Giuliano, assistant chief at the US Border
Patrol office, said 23 Canadian smugglers have been arrested on the US side
of the border this year.

'Virtually all marijuana smuggling in the past year is directly or
indirectly tied back to the Indo- Canadian community,' he said.

Police describe the problem as a closed cycle of murder and revenge. 'One
day suspect, and the next day victim,' said Mr Heed.

The gang members are often from well-off families, local leaders and
officials said.

'Unlike in other countries, people involved in the gang activity here are
not the poor or disadvantaged,' said Mr Wallace Oppal, a justice of the
Court of Appeal of British Columbia.

'For the most part, kids involved are people who come from middle-class and
upper-class homes. They get involved for the glamour.'

Mr Oppal said parental neglect is sometimes a factor. 'Parents provide their
children with the means, but not the guidance.'

Mr Heed acknowledged that police are criticised for not stopping the
violence, but said the families of gang members need to help solve the
problem. Family members deny their sons are involved in crime.

'We've gone to notify people their son was killed and they have been in such
denial they slammed the door in the police officer's face,' he said. 'They
will ask the question to their dying day after their son is murdered - why
they didn't do something.'

- -- Washington Post