ECSTASY BUST GETS NASTY: COPS

Peel narcs arrested two Quebec men who tried to peddle 10,000 Ecstasy
pills to undercover officers in a takedown that nearly turned deadly.

One man kept trying to yank something out of this jacket during the
Sunday arrests in a downtown Toronto hotel. Police later discovered
it was a .45-calibre handgun.

"We're finding more and more of these drug guys are carrying guns to
protect themselves and their investments," said Peel Morality Insp.
John Nielsen.

He said one suspect was arrested in a hotel room but a second suspect
in another room tried to flee and "the fight was on," said Nielsen.
"During that, he assaulted one of those officers and what they
noticed was that he tried to reach inside his jacket," he said. "Of
course, once he's handcuffed, they realized why he was reaching under
his jacket -- for his handgun."

Peel also took a third man, Daljinderpal Thind, 33, Mississauga, into
custody for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency in Miami, which is
preparing to extradite him on charges of conspiracy to import and
traffick in Ecstasy.

Police allege a Mississauga man arranged courier shipments of ecstasy
from dealers in Quebec for shipment into the U.S.

The DEA had seized 23,000 pills and previously arrested three other
Mississauga residents in south Florida and charged them with
trafficking Ecstasy during the investigation: Donovan Michael Brown,
30, Andre Iskander, 26, and Christopher Martin, 25.

Nielsen said the arrests at the Hilton, on Queen St., stem from
Ecstasy busts earlier this year of Mississauga residents in Florida.
The weekend arrests came on the heels of the suspected ecstasy death
of Nicole Malik, 17, who collapsed and died Saturday morning while
visiting Toronto.

Jimmy Cournoyer, 22, of Montreal, and Alexandru Dulbergher, 27, of De
La Seine, Que., are both charged with unauthorized possession of a
weapon, using a firearm during a commission of an indictable offence,
carrying a concealed weapon, trafficking in a controlled substance
and possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Cournoyer has an additional charge of assault with intent to resist arrest.