COPS IN ECSTASY AFTER RAID

East-end raid may be record drug bust

IN WHAT could be one of the largest drug busts in Ottawa history, police
have uncovered a clandestine east-end drug lab stocked with enough chemicals
to produce millions of dollars worth of the designer drug ecstasy.

"If our anticipated estimates are accurate, it would be the largest ecstasy
production facility in this city ever," Ottawa police Insp. Doug Handy said
yesterday after the massive cache of chemicals was discovered Sunday in two
warehouses in a Canotek Rd. industrial complex.

Handy said initial estimates are that 200,000 to 300,000 pills could be
produced from the chemicals seized. Each pill can typically sell for $20 to
$30, meaning the finished drugs could have a street value of up to $9
million.

"There is major potential for a high dollar value," he said.

So far, police have taken only one man in his 30s into custody.

CAR PULLED OVER

Mingh Thoan Ha was arrested Saturday night without incident in Centretown
after police pulled over his car. He has been charged with producing a
controlled substance, possession for the purpose of trafficking and
possession of proceeds of crime.

Yesterday, police called in chemists from Toronto to take inventory of the
chemicals recovered from the two warehouses.

"You have to have all the ingredients there to have the production charges,"
said Handy, adding it's not yet known if the drug facility was connected
with organized crime.

"We don't know if it's a one-man production or an organized production
working on behalf of a group," said Handy.

However, drug experts say a production facility capable of producing that
many pills would require a highly organized distribution network.

Police, ambulance, firefighter and hazardous materials crews were to be
dispatched to the buildings this morning to begin begin moving large
quantities of acid and other volatile chemicals from the scene. The delicate
cleanup task is expected to take three days or more.

Depending on the stage of the production process, an ecstasy lab can be
quite dangerous.

TOXIC FUMES

According to several websites on ecstasy production, toxic fumes from
solvents and violent chemical reactions pose a threat to the people
manufacturing the drugs and anyone nearby.

Handy said it appeared the two warehouses were currently being used only for
storage of the drug-producing chemicals, considerably reducing the danger to
the public.

However, business owners in the adjacent units were being advised by police
that they may be asked to leave the area after 2 p.m. today as the chemicals
are removed.