RESIDENTS UNAWARE OF FRIENDLY NEIGHBOURHOOD ECSTASY LAB

Vancouver residents should get to know their neighbours to prevent
criminals from infiltrating their neighbourhoods and setting up drug
labs, says the head of Vancouver police's drug squad.

Insp. Kash Heed said police only discovered an ecstasy lab in a house
in the 2000-block of East 35th Avenue Tuesday because of a fire that
broke out in the basement.

The lab contained about $6 million worth of powder and liquid ecstasy,
and enough hazardous chemicals to cause police and firefighters to
evacuate at least 10 houses in the neighbourhood.

A half-dozen neighbours questioned by the Courier on Wednesday didn't
know the two males suspected of operating the lab, nor did they know
who lived beside them or across the street.

That doesn't surprise Heed.

In the late 1990s, Vancouver police conducted a community survey that
found only 22 per cent of respondents knew their neighbours-a
statistic that shocked Heed at the time.

Though police are regularly led to drug labs and marijuana grow
operations through investigative techniques, Heed said they also rely
on tips from the public.

If neighbours aren't talking to each other, and no one is keeping an
eye on suspicious behaviour in a neighbourhood, it makes it easier for
criminals to move in and set up a drug lab, he said.

So far, investigators have determined that the lab on East 35th Avenue
was operated by two males who would come and go at odd hours. They had
been operating for about two months, Heed said.

The registered owner of the house is Zhiyong Xiao, who purchased the
home on July 7 for $392,000. As of Friday, police were still
attempting to contact Xiao, who could be an absentee landlord, Heed
said.

Firefighters arrived at the house just after 11 a.m., after receiving
a call about smoke billowing from what turned out to be a pot left on
a stove.

The two-storey older stucco-and-vinyl-sided home is located on a
narrow street near Victoria Drive with a mix of character houses,
Vancouver specials and bungalows.

Residents run the gamut from Indo-Canadian to Chinese, Caucasian,
Japanese and Croatian, and many didn't want to be identified when
questioned by the Courier.

Eighteen-year-old Krishan Das, who has lived in the neighbourhood
since 1992, said East 35th Avenue is normally a quiet street, but
marijuana grow operations have been busted in the area.

Though Das doesn't know his neighbours, he said he was concerned to
learn about the drug lab, which could have exploded and damaged or
wiped out his parents' house.

"But nobody knew these guys."

The power has been cut to the house and the front door has a "Not Safe
to Occupy" sign posted by the city's building inspector. Next to the
sign are three red posters depicting good fortune in Chinese characters.

Heed said a drug lab can usually be detected by a pungent, toxic
smell. Empty chemical containers, discarded science-lab-type equipment
in the garbage and occupants who keep unusual hours are also
indicators, he said.

No neighbourhood is safe from drug labs, Heed said.

"From our point of view, it could be anywhere. You could produce
ecstasy or methamphetamine with a Coleman stove in the trunk of your
car."

Ecstasy, also called MDMA, Adam, E and XTC, is a synthetic,
mind-altering drug with amphetamine-like and hallucinogenic
properties. It's popular with the rave set and club goers, some of
whom have died in Vancouver after taking it.