COPS FIND DRUG HOUSE HEAVILY FORTIFIED

A police blitz on crack shacks has revealed a disturbing new trend,
according to Prince George RCMP spokesman Const. Gary Godwin.

RCMP conducted search warrants on seven alleged crack shacks in a
16-day period this month. Two of those crack shacks were heavily
fortified with boarded up doorways and other barriers.

Also in two of the raids youth were being used to traffic the
drugs.

In the more recent of the two crack fort busts, North District RCMP's
heavily armed emergency response team (ERT) was forced to storm the
house through a second-story window.

"That main door was barricaded with a very simple but very effective
hinged system," Godwin said. "There was no way to get into the house
without taking out the whole door frame."

Police raided the house in the 2200 block of Quince Street on Friday
afternoon. Eleven people were arrested in the basement suite of the
house and a 15-year-old boy was arrested upstairs.

Police seized a large quantity of crack cocaine and cash from the
upstairs floor. RCMP believe the drug buyers would enter the basement
and put cash into a can, which would then be pulled up through a hole
in the floor and drugs would be lowered down.

Plywood sheets were screwed in place to prevent any access from the
basement to the upstairs floor.

A similar set up was found in a crack shack in the 1400 block of
Strathcona Avenue on April 18.

Godwin said these crack forts have been found in the Lower Mainland
prior to this, but had not appeared in Prince George until now. The
forts have three purposes, he added.

"If it's illegal, we'll be there - we'll be coming for them
eventually. So far we haven't had any violence towards police trying
to enter. They just buy themselves time to dispose of their illicit
drugs," Godwin said. "And if it's that lucrative, someone will try to
rip you off. It would be very difficult to rip off this type of set
up. There is always a watchman keeping an eye on the money and drugs."

The third advantage is the drug buyers can't see the drug dealers,
which reduces their value as police witnesses.

"It's very simple, but very ingenious," Godwin said. "But there is a
lot of damage done to these rental places. They just nail and drill
haphazardly."

Police and the ERT have techniques to get into barricaded homes, but
many of them also cause damage to the property.

"They have the tools and the training already at their disposal,"
Godwin said. "[In the first crack fort] the police took the door frame
off. Explosive entry was not used here, but they have that at their
disposal."

The crack fort raided on Friday had a sturdy metal door frame which
couldn't be removed.