DRUG DEALERS COULD GET LIFE FOR SETTING DEADLY TRAPS

OTTAWA -- Drug dealers who set up deadly traps could face life in jail if
an emergency worker called to their illegal premises gets killed, according
to a new bill the federal government introduced yesterday.

Justice Minister Martin Cauchon introduced the proposed amendment in the
House of Commons yesterday in a housekeeping bill to streamline the
Criminal Code.

The bill creates a Criminal Code offence of setting a deadly trap in a
place used for a criminal purpose.

Police and firefighters have been calling on Ottawa to create such an
offence because emergency workers have encountered deadly booby traps such
as explosive devices or floors that fall away while investigating
sophisticated drug labs or marijuana grow operations.

"We have to protect emergency workers like firefighters on the front line
who may be exposed to dangerous situations like marijuana grow operations
or clandestine drug labs," Mr. Cauchon said.

"If firefighters or police officers are put at risk, injured or killed by
traps set to defend these criminal enterprises from law enforcement or
rival gangs, those who set the traps must feel the full weight of the law."

The law is designed to protect first responders, such as firefighters,
paramedics and police officers, whose lives could be threatened when
entering such a place in the course of their duties.

Under the proposed law, the maximum sentence of 10 years in jail would be
increased to 14 years if someone is injured and a life sentence if someone
is killed by a trap.

Jim Lee, a Toronto firefighter and spokesman for the International
Association of Firefighters, said deadly traps at marijuana grow operations
and drug labs are surprisingly common.

Firefighters responding to fires at drug laboratories and marijuana grow
operations have been injured by booby traps, he said.

In one case, a crossbow was set up to shoot anyone entering the premises.

It was triggered by the front door opening.

"We've been very, very lucky we haven't had firefighters killed," Mr. Lee said.

"They cut the floors away. This has been a problem for the last few years.

"We've been lobbying the federal government to change the law over the last
few years. I think the government has done the right thing."

The bill also proposed amending the Criminal Code to recognize that
everyone on board any aircraft in Canadian airspace is justified in using
reasonable force when he or she believes it is necessary to prevent a
criminal act that could endanger the safety of the aircraft or of someone
on board.

Mr. Cauchon said the amendment is being recommended as part of heightened
security since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.