'UNTOUCHABLES' FLOODED CANADA WITH HEROIN

They called themselves the Untouchables because of their ability to avoid
capture.

For the past three years the powerful crime cartel trucked heroin from the
poppy fields of the Golden Triangle into Chinas notorious Fujian Province
and shipped the drug west to be sold on the streets of Vancouver, Toronto,
New York and other North American cities.

Using underground banks to launder the millions of dollars raised by the
illicit trade, the gang had an international network of retail cells at the
street level to distribute the heroin, which was being shipped in containers.

Last week, in an unprecedented joint operation between the Americans and
the Chinese, the drug syndicate was busted and the hierarchy of the drug
cartel was arrested.

Anthony Placido, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement
Administrations New York office, said that the drug organization was one of
the worlds largest, operating from the farms of Burma to the arms of
addicts in United States and Canada.

He said the high-grade smack moved from the poppy fields of Myanmar,
formerly Burma, to the docks of Fujian Province on Chinas southeast coast
and ultimately to the streets of Chinatown in Manhattan for distribution
throughout the United States and Canada.

As a result of the joint-operation, 25 people have been indicted on federal
drug-trafficking charges in New York.

Those charged in the U.S. federal court after a nearly two-year
investigation are accused of smuggling more than US$100 million worth of
heroin from Southeast Asia since 2000, officials said.

Ten of those indicted were arrested in Manhattan and are to be arraigned
this week. If convicted of the drug charges, each faces a maximum term of
life imprisonment.

Eight others were arrested in China, including the four alleged
ringleaders, whom officials collectively called the Untouchables because
they had avoided arrest.

The eight will be tried in China.

Two additional arrests occurred in Hong Kong and Miami.

Another five people under indictment are being sought, authorities said.

Chinese media quoting the Fujian Public Security Bureau reported that an
unknown sum of money and vehicles were also seized by police in the
joint-swoop in east Chinas Fujian province.

This is an unprecedented event, U.S. Attorney James Comey told a news
conference.

The alleged smuggling ring was taken down a week earlier than U.S.
officials had planned, Comey said, because of developments in the case in
China.

According to a five-count indictment filed with the U.S. courts the crime
cartel was known as the 125 Organization because one of its leaders, Kin
Cheung Wong, was also known as 125.

Wong and three other ringleaders were also known in China as the
Untouchables because of their ability to elude the authorities.

Wong is a former drug dealer in Manhattans Chinatown who had been jailed on
drug charges and deported, said U.S. officials.

Law enforcement sources said the investigation began nearly two years ago
by the NYPD, who used undercover cops and confidential informants to
infiltrate the gang.

What they found was a sophisticated drug operation. We still dont know how
they kept coming in and out of the country. They were that good, said one
law enforcement source.

These guys were moving huge quantities of heroin in and out of the U.S.,
and none of them were even legal (migrants).

The gangs dealers in New Yorks Chinatown and Queens were extraordinarily
paranoid, often changing cars, clothes and ducking under vehicles to elude
investigators, the source said.

Chinese law enforcement wiretapped the Untouchables, but what was gathered
couldnt be used to make a case under Chinese law.

They used our evidence and our surveillance to make the cases overseas,
said a high-ranking police official, according to the New York Post.

The American Justice Department considered the case so important they
fronted the Chinese government US$180,000 - money that was not recovered
and probably never will be, the paper said.

The Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada estimates that 95 per cent of
heroin smuggled into Canada originates in Southeast Asia.

According to its latest report, Southeast Asian heroin typically enters
Canada through Vancouver, Toronto or Montreal international airports and
major marine ports in British Columbia.

A portion of this heroin is then smuggled to the U.S criminal groups
composed of individuals of Chinese descent who operate on both sides of the
border and control distribution.

The intelligence service says all major heroin seizures in Canada lately
involved Asian-based crime syndicates and most of the traffickers are
linked to Fukinese-based criminal groups.

The Asian crime groups continue to associate with other organized crime
groups, nationally and internationally, and to expand their association
with youth and street gangs.

Members of street and youth gangs are typically used as a labour pool for
their criminal activities, security and as a source of recruits.

There are a number of active Asian-based street gangs in British Columbia,
Ontario and Quebec, which are used by drug cartels as retail cells to
distribute drugs.