SMOKE LEADS TO $10M ECSTASY LAB

Residents in the 16th Avenue and McCowan Road area were shocked
firefighters found a $10-million ecstasy lab in their quiet end of
Markham Saturday.

"This is a good neighbourhood," said Rosario Ragas, who, since 1985,
has lived blocks from the Manhattan Drive home where York Regional
Police found at least 50 kilograms of powdered ecstasy ready to be
pressed into pills.

"I would never have guessed they'd find something like this
here."

It was the sharp eye of another resident concerned about smoke coming
from the garage early Saturday morning that led to the discovery.

Markham firefighters responded to a call around 8:15 a.m. Saturday.
When they entered the home, they found the sophisticated ecstasy
manufacturing operation.

"(Firefighters) went in to investigate the fire and found a working
ecstasy lab," York Regional Police Det. Rob Cullen said. "It is very
lucky that the fire was caught. It could have caused a serious
explosion. That house would have been a crater."

Police officers dressed in blue protective suits and masks, aided by
Health Canada officials, were continuing to remove the drugs and
dangerous chemicals such as acetone and methyl hydrate Monday.

A police spokesperson said the careful cleanup could continue as long
as a week.

Investigators estimate the drugs seized could be worth as much as $10
million on the street.

Ecstasy can reduce a person's inhibitions, cause hallucinations and a
feeling of euphoria.

The fire, along with fumes from the drug-making process, left much of
the house either destroyed or contaminated.

"There is no way to describe what is in that house, it's just a mess,"
Det. Cullen added.

Police believe two people, one of them as young as eight, fled the
home before the firefighters entered.

The town may have to be called in to rip up the home's pipes after
waste chemicals were dumped down the drain and into the sewer system,
Det. Cullen added.

Residents in the area say the house was sold last month and since
then, it has remained fairly well kept, although they never noticed
anyone moving in.

The possibility of an explosion and chemicals flowing into the sewer
system had Joanne Terzo concerned, as she watched officers clean up
the scene Monday.

"Are they ever going to be able to clean this up properly?" she asked.
"It's disgusting."

Neighbours Angry

"It's terrible," added Joanne Merlino. "We all have kids growing up in
this neighbourhood and they're making this garbage here. Something has
to be done to stop them."

With the increasing number of marijuana grow labs police are finding
throughout the area, neighbour Sebastian Terzo said he wasn't
surprised the designer drug manufacturers have set up shop.

He said stiffer sentences for the drug makers, a position Police Chief
Armand La Barge has long promoted, may be the answer.

"We have to put them away for a long time," he said. "A slap on the
wrist and a few months away is not going to do it."

The investigation is continuing and police are seeking help
identifying the residents of the home. One suspect is described as an
Asian male, approximately 40 years old.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 1-866-876-5423 or
Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.