AL-QUEDA MAY HAVE INFILTRATED DIAMON SECTOR

Terrorist groups can use gems as currency to avoid banks, other controls,
police say

QUEBEC, TORONTO -- Canadian police-intelligence services are concerned that
the al-Qaeda terrorist network may be infiltrating Canada's diamond industry
and using it to fund terrorist activities.

But RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli refused to say whether organized
crime has been successful in targeting the industry. "We have indications
that criminal organizations will try and target our diamond industry," he
said.

Police-intelligence services in Canada have recently increased the
monitoring of potential diamond-smuggling activities by terrorists and other
criminal organizations.

"I can't go into details, but obviously they see the potential for profit.
That's what they look at. That's the basis of all criminal activity,"
Commissioner Zaccardelli said yesterday. "They see a lot of diamonds. If
they can get their hands on them, they clearly can make a lot of money. And
so they will be as innovative as your imagination can be in terms of trying
to get access to it. We have to defend against that."

Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino said that in assessing global trends,
the Canadian diamond industry is emerging as an attractive and lucrative
target for criminal organizations. He said that it is a serious threat and
could spread to many Canadian communities, where illegal diamonds can be
easily sold to fund criminal activities.

"You don't need to get into my pocket to physically get me to believe that I
am [affected] by organized crime. It's a fact, it's a reality, and people
have to start listening to what the law-enforcement community is putting
forward as real issues and emerging threats," Chief Fantino said.

In a report released yesterday by Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, a
police agency created to fight organized crime, law enforcers warn that
"terrorist organizations such as the al-Qaeda network may be using diamonds
as a form of currency to avoid [the] international banking system and
controls by government authorities."

In a second report released yesterday, CISC also warns that biker gangs and
Asian crime networks work around the clock to satisfy North America's
insatiable demand for marijuana.

At one time, pot-growing enterprises created friction between such criminal
gangs. But their members realize that made-in-Canada pot has a cachet that
makes it a multibillion-dollar business, with more than enough profits to go
around, police say.

"The Hells Angels and Asian-based organized crime groups, particularly
Vietnamese-based groups, prevail as major participants in the large-scale
cultivation and exportation of marijuana," the report says.

It adds that in British Columbia in particular, "both criminal organizations
have realized that demand for marijuana nationally and internationally
exceeds the supply of any one gang. "These groups currently tolerate each
other's marijuana operations." Commissioner Zaccardelli said criminal gangs
of different stripes are increasingly in cahoots with one another.

"The days of these factions operating as independent, isolated units that
would take violent steps to protect their turf are over. We must integrate
our policing efforts."

The CISC report may give pause to anyone who thinks smoking a joint is a
victimless offence. These same groups are involved in a number of illicit
activities, from extortion to prostitution, violent crime, financial fraud
and other crimes.