'KEEP KIDS': DEALER'S MOM

Parents Need Rent From Alleged Seller

The mother of an eight-year-old crack dealer told authorities she'd rather
give up her kids than evict the tenant who allegedly supplied the dope.

"The parents said they needed that money for rent," Mark Kastner, a
spokesman for the province's children's services department, said yesterday
afternoon.

"The parents advised us to keep the kids, and that's what we'll do until we
can ascertain where this family is going."

The fate of the three siblings in children's service custody -- including
the eight-year-old nabbed while holding crack cocaine during a drug deal --
may be decided today.

The case of the pint-sized crack dealer -- who is too young to be charged
- -- shocked the city and horrified even seen-it-all cops after the story was
first reported in yesterday's Sun.

Police believe the boy was acting as a drug "mule," a person who carries
drugs while an accomplice makes the cash deal, when they made a dope bust
Friday afternoon near the Bow River walk area on the northside of
Riverfront Ave.

The arresting officers, members of the Calgary Police Service bike unit,
saw an adult male -- who boards with the boy's family -- they believed was
dealing drugs.

When they scooped the alleged dealer, they also nabbed the boy, who was
carrying about $300 worth of crack cocaine, the highly addictive chemically
altered cocaine that is smoked by users.

The man was arrested and charged with drug-related offences and walked out
of the Remand Centre Monday, freed on bail.

Yesterday, he was back at the apartment while a social worker interviewed
the parents.

"The children won't go back as long as he is there," vowed Kastner.

The boy and his two siblings -- a six-year-old brother and a four-year-old
sister -- were removed from a 2 Ave. S.E. apartment residence and placed in
emergency care soon after police made the Riverside bust.

They were set to undergo the final phases of a complete physical
examination late yesterday, tests ordered by the province's Minister of
Children's Services Iris Evans.

"We won't send the kids back until we're absolutely sure they're safe," she
said.

Last night, meanwhile, police discovered several baggies of cocaine along
with bullet shells stashed near a fire extinguisher in the same building
where the boy lives.

While police continue their investigation, a source close to the case said
the situation is even more disturbing because there are allegations the
children's father may be involved in the drug trade.

While the boy is the youngest drug dealer ever seen by local officers,
people who own businesses in the downtown area say they are being overrun
by crack dealers and their ever younger customers.

"They chase each other down and kick each other in the head -- all this in
the middle of the street in broad daylight," said one Chinatown business
owner who, because of fears for his safety, asked to remain anonymous.

"Who knows what they'll do when they're desperate for drugs?"

Kieng Nhuan Tran, 26, was charged Friday with two counts of possession of
drugs for the purpose of trafficking and one count of breach of recognizance.

He will be back in court Sept. 16.