TWELVE CHARGED IN DRUG SWEEP

Twelve people are charged with drug-related offences after London
police and RCMP officers swooped down on Dundas and Richmond streets
in an operation targeting street-level drug dealers. The four-month
undercover operation, named Project Clark, began last fall after
several complaints from downtown businesses and citizens about chronic
drug dealing, Const. Paul Martin, a London police spokesperson, said
yesterday.

Undercover police officers focused their efforts near the intersection
of Dundas and Richmond streets, buying small amounts of crack cocaine,
ecstasy, marijuana and magic mushrooms 36 times.

Each time an undercover officer bought drugs, police identified the
dealer.

Arrest warrants were later issued and carried out Tuesday.

Police began scooping up the wanted people around lunch hour and made
their last arrest at 9 p.m.

Eight people are still wanted for drug-related offences, including
trafficking, Martin said.

The sweep was welcome news for downtown businesses in an area that has
long fought a poor public perception.

"We're trying to clean up the downtown and to make it a safe, clean
place for people to shop and to live . . . the drug trafficking and
the loitering, it's not conducive for that sort of thing," said
Lindsey Elwood, chairperson of the Downtown London Business
Association.

The sweep sends a message to drug dealers, said Janette MacDonald,
manager of MainStreet London, which provides grants and professional
design advice to downtown businesses for facade improvement and
renovations.

"It's certainly a step in the right direction, cleaning up the streets
downtown."

Businesses and downtown residents were disturbed as they watched drug
deals go down, she said.

"We're very happy that they (police) did this. Hopefully they'll (drug
dealers) stay away. It just raises the awareness the police are not
just going to walk by and not do anything about it," MacDonald said.

"Hopefully this will encourage people to come back
downtown."

Police didn't know the total value of the drugs seized yesterday, but
said each piece of crack cocaine bought was worth about $50, the
ecstasy worth $40 and marijuana and magic mushrooms worth about $20
each, Martin said.

The greater impact, he said, came in the number of drug dealers taken
off the street.

"The value of the drugs that were seized or purchased was not the
focal point of this investigation. It was the activities of the
individuals that were taking place on the streets in public during
daylight hours," he said, adding dealers were approaching and
bothering citizens and disrupting business.

"These are the dealers that are harassing and trying to influence
other kids . . . These kids don't have to worry about this anymore.
They don't have to deal with the pressure of buying a gram of pot when
they walk downtown," Martin said.

Had undercover officers asked to buy large amounts of drugs, "bells
and whistles" would have gone off for the drug dealers, alerting them
the buyer was possibly a police officer, he said.

Project Clark was similar to Project Impact, a five-month undercover
investigation targeting street level crack cocaine dealers in east
London last June.