RICHMOND PART OF SPEED RING

A massive seizure of 10 million tablets of pseudoephedrine--a chemical used
to produce the drugs methamphetamine and ecstasy--from a Richmond warehouse
is linked to an 18-month international police investigation that resulted
Tuesday in the arrest of 65 people in 10 cities across North America.

On Sunday, April 6, the Burnaby RCMP along with members of the multiple
police agency Integrated National Security Enforcement Team raided a
Richmond warehouse and seized 675 kilograms of the chemical
pseudoephedrine. Police are not releasing the location of the warehouse as
their Richmond investigation is continuing.

RCMP Sgt. Louise Lafrance said Friday that the local seizure is linked to
this week's announced arrests resulting from a joint U.S. and Canada
investigation dubbed Operation Northern Star.

The RCMP and the U.S.-based Drug Enforcement Administration have been
working together for more than a year to identify and shut down what it
describes as a "major pseudoephedrine pipeline."

Six executives from three Quebec-based chemical companies--G.C. Medical
Products, Formulex and Frega Inc.--were arrested this week and police
allege they knowingly sold tons of pseudoephedrine to clandestine
methamphetamine manufacturers in the United States.

Lafrance said more arrests and charges are possible. On Tuesday, police
arrested three B.C. residents on U.S. arrest warrants, although their names
have not been released. They are facing conspiracy-related charges
involving the production of methamphetamine.

"We believe that Operation Northern Star has disrupted a major
pseudoephedrine pipeline from Canada and sent a clear message to
pharmaceutical companies there and elsewhere that they will be held
criminally responsible for dispensing their products in the United States
for illegal use," U.S. Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff said.

Massive quantities of pseudoephedrine were being manufactured in Montreal,
stockpiled in Ottawa warehouses and then smuggled into the U.S. via border
crossings in Quebec and Ontario.

Lafrance said police seized eight tonnes (8,000 kilograms) of
pseudoephedrine from an Ottawa warehouse and found that four tonnes had
previously been transported to Las Vegas from that same warehouse. The
quantity of pseudoephedrine seized could have produced 300 million doses of
speed.

In addition to 11 Canadian arrests, the RCMP has seized $1.6 million in
cash an a luxury vehicle as proceeds of crime. Police aren't indicating why
the pseudoephedrine may have been stockpiled in Richmond, saying only that
their investigation hasn't wrapped up yet.