SURREY RAID NETTED DRUG-MAKING EQUIPMENT: OCA

A raid on a Port Kells business uncovered drug manufacturing gear that can
be used to make both Ecstasy and methamphetamine, the North Delta-based
Organized Crime Agency (OCA) of B.C. disclosed Thursday.

The raid in Surrey earlier this month was the result of a five-month
province-wide OCA investigation into drug-making and distribution by outlaw
biker gangs.

The OCA was assisted by police in Calgary, Chilliwack and Kelowna.

Pictures released by the OCA at a Thursday news conference show extra-large
containers used to brew methamphetamine and Ecstasy were being stored at
the Surrey business premises.

Police also found an unloaded 9-mm semi-automatic machine pistol and
ammunition at the Port Kells location.

Two men and two women were arrested as a result of the Surrey raid, which
was coordinated with other police raids in Abbotsford, Chilliwack and
Kelowna on the same day, which saw eight other people arrested.

All of the suspects have been released pending their first court
appearances in June on a variety of drug and weapons-related charges.

"We've become increasingly concerned about the use and prevalence of meth
in B.C." said Det. Anne Drennan, OCA spokesperson.

OCA expert Doug Culver estimates B.C. has more meth labs than the rest of
Canada combined.

Ecstasy, which used to be imported from overseas labs, is now a home-grown
product, with police uncovering more pill presses every year, Culver said,
adding more and more of the illegal labs are being run by organized crime,
usually biker gangs.

"A few years ago, we were averaging three or four (raids on these) labs a
year," Culver said.

"Now, its up to 25 or 30. They're turning up in the most unlikely places."

In Surrey, meth labs have been found in high-rise apartment buildings,
garages, greenhouses and the inside of private homes, where the toxic
chemicals used to make the drugs put neighbours at risk to explosion and fire.

"This is not a lab like you see in university, it's a bathtub lab," Culver
said.

People have even been known to mix the extremely volatile chemicals in
their kitchen, oblivious to the hazards the fumes from the volatile
chemicals pose, Culver said.

Tell-tale signs of a meth lab include heavy use of water, with taps running
around the clock as part of the 14-hour "cooking" process, and a strong
odour of acetone, similar to nail polish remover, and a unique, sickly
garlicky stench, said Health Canada drug expert Richard Lang, who assists
police in safely dismantling the illegal labs.

"Once you smell it, you'll never forget it," Lang said.

Ecstasy and meth are popular drugs at all-night raves. Many partiers assume
the pills are not hazardous, said RCMP drug awareness officer Scott Rintoul.

"These drugs are not like cannabis (marijunana)," Rintoul warned.

"They have the potential, with one dose, to cause serious injury..."

Rintoul said at least two deaths of rave participants in B.C. have been
linked to Ecstasy consumption.