COPS PREDICT MORE BUSTS

Massive Drug Investigation Smokes Out Leads on Smaller Cartels Across City

THE DRAMATIC takedown of an Ottawa-based drug cartel will help expose the
remaining big-time drug producers in the city, police said yesterday. "I am
sure there are other, smaller cartels with links to other facets of
organized crime," said Ottawa police drug unit Insp. Doug Handy.

Those smaller cartels include biker gangs that are involved in the drug trade.

Just hours after Wednesday's bust of a high-profile criminal organization
allegedly led by mastermind Mai Le, 38, Ottawa police drug investigators
received several tips about other operations.

"When you get involved in any organized crime file, you start seeing
offshoots like the spokes of a wheel," Handy said.

"You could be following those for the next 30 years and still you wouldn't
have enough staff or resources to follow up all the loose threads."

But the public is guaranteed the war on drugs will produce more arrests.

With the increased awareness on the size of these operations in the city,
police expect more tips to come in from the public.

"The tips won't stop coming in because of (Wednesday's) culmination of
Project Codi," Handy said.

GROW OPS SHUT DOWN

An early morning, carefully orchestrated wave of 32 searches on a number of
area residences, businesses and bank accounts Wednesday resulted in police
shutting down eight grow ops in neighbourhoods across the city. They also
seized more than $1 million in cash, more than 1,000 marijuana plants,
$100,000 in growing equipment and computers.

Simultaneous police raids were conducted in Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and
16 U.S. cities, including Houston, Los Angeles, Boston and New York.

The massive sweep nabbed more than 150 suspects -- 29 in Ottawa --
including Le and eight members of her family.

"It will not eliminate the drug situation in the Ottawa area," said RCMP
Staff Sgt. Jacques Lemieux. "But I am quite positive it will have an impact."

If there is a downside to the operation, it's that it won't stem the flow
of drugs onto Ottawa streets. Most of the drugs allegedly produced by the
people arrested Wednesday were being exported to the U.S., where big money
can be made.

These drug operations were no "ma-and-pa shops" generating small quantities
of drugs. The criminal organization operated in Canada, the U.S., Vietnam
and parts of Southeast Asia. It produced an estimated 15% of all the
ecstasy sold in the U.S., and ran large-scale, high-potency marijuana grow
ops in Canada.

"This organization was growing it for profit and they were making huge
profits from this," said Lemieux. "By eliminating the people exporting it,
yes that will have an impact on the Ottawa area."

Yesterday, local police continued their search for more suspects who are
believed to still be in the area. One man turned himself in.

"This investigation is far from being over, because now we have all the
court proceedings," said Lemieux. "The biggest part was to arrest these
individuals, get enough information on them to be able to bring them in
front of the court. Now we have the judicial part to do."

Ironically, the court proceedings, which force investigators to divulge how
their investigation was conducted, will allow organized crime groups to use
that information to their benefit to avoid detection in the future.

"Once the information is put out there, it will be available to all the
accused," said Lemieux. "These individuals are associated with other
criminal organizations, so yes, they will share their information."

An intelligence investigation by Ottawa police in late 2001 led to this
week's widespread drug bust, which involved 64 federal, state, provincial
and local law enforcement agencies across Canada and the U.S.

"We knew we were on to something of a large scale, but I don't think we
anticipated what a monster of a file this would become," said Handy.

Early on, Ottawa police drug officers realized they could not handle a case
of this magnitude alone.

JOINT OPERATION

They sought out partnerships with other law enforcement agencies and
subsequently formed a joint management team consisting of the RCMP, OPP,
the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Criminal Intelligence
Service Ontario, said Handy.

Other joint forces operations sprung up between Ontario's Combined Forces
Special Enforcement Unit, the FBI, DEA, IRS, and other police services in
the U.S.

The operation in Ottawa was a success largely because the criminals had no
idea the police were hot on their trail.

"If there were any concerns by the cartel of police involvement, we are not
aware of it," said Handy. "There were no major concerns, no glitches that
would have been a big hurdle to this project at all."

Police claim a Toronto resident, Ze Wai Wong, 49, who was also arrested
during the extensive raid, headed the international ecstasy network.

The alleged ringleader of the Ottawa criminal organization, Mai Le, was
responsible for the money-laundering aspects of the Wong business, as well
as for other criminal organizations in the U.S. and Montreal. Her
organization laundered $5 million US each month.

Although Le has lived in Canada for several years, she first appeared on
the police radar about five years ago.

"She might have been involved indirectly or directly in other small
criminal activity, but nothing to this extent," said Lemieux. "That is why
she became more and more prevalent within this investigation because of her
role with this organization."

Suspects from every echelon of the criminal cartel were arrested in the
police sweep -- from the couriers who would run the money to the street
drug dealers to the chief executive and financial officers, said Lemieux.

Despite the groups links to violence in the U.S. -- including murder -- the
Ottawa branch has yet to be tied to any acts of violence, he said.

The next step in the local investigation is to track down remaining
suspects who are still on the loose and dig through the evidence to find
leads to other drug rings and grow houses operating in the capital, said
Ottawa police Staff Sgt. Marc Pinault.

"It doesn't stop as of Wednesday, it continues on," he said. "We are seeing
what we gained (Wednesday) or what we didn't. It will help us decide what
direction we are going to go in."