YORK POLICE SHUT DOWN $10M ECSTASY LAB

Lab Discovered By Firefighters Responding To Blaze

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."

"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.