NATIVE GANGS PROLIFERATE IN CITIES

EDMONTON (CP) - Aboriginal gangs that were once mainly in Prairie prisons
are now thriving outside, armed and trafficking hard drugs, a national
policing agency says

The Criminal Intelligence Service Canada says in a report that native gangs
are particularly active in cities such as Edmonton, Regina and Winnipeg.

''Aboriginal-based gangs that once existed primarily in prisons for
protection purposes have now recognized the financial benefit of
trafficking hard drugs (such as cocaine) on reserves," the agency says.

''Many of the gangs have ready access to weapons, including firearms, that
has resulted in a number of incidents of violence.'' Native gangs have a
smaller presence outside the Prairies, but their numbers will increase
nationally as they become more entrenched in urban areas and on reserves,
actively recruiting new members and associates among native youth, the
agency says.

Native gangs are considered a "low-level criminal threat," mostly involved
in street-level drug trafficking, but their members are branching out, the
report says.

They are moving increasingly into prostitution, property crimes, tobacco
smuggling, home invasions, weapon offences, illegal gambling, as well as
debt collection and enforcement for other organized crime groups like the
Hells Angels.

Asian gangs, already entrenched in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario,
are becoming increasingly active in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec and
Atlantic Canada, the agency says.