CHILDREN SENT TO CAS AFTER BUST ON DRUG LAB

Four people appeared in court yesterday after police seized what they
believe are club drugs with a street value of as much as $40-million.

Police seized 140,000 pills and numerous bags of powder from a home
in a residential neighbourhood in the north end. Two children living
in the house were taken into the care of the Children's Aid Society.

The arrests came after officers found an apparent drug-production lab
inside a house in the neighbourhood around McCowan Road and Steeles Avenue.

According to police, the pills in the house were part of 214
kilograms of what is believed to be MDMA, otherwise known as ecstasy.
The street value of this amount of MDMA would be about $20-million,
police said. If cut with a diluting agent, the value could easily double.

"It's not the biggest [bust] in Ontario, but it's certainly one of
the biggest ones," said Detective Sergeant David Malcolm, of the
Toronto Police Service drug squad.

Police believe two of the accused were living in the house along with
children aged five and eight, whose presence was particularly
troubling to investigators. Drug labs are sufficiently dangerous that
officers require protective suits to investigate them, Det. Sgt. Malcolm noted.

"It's a huge concern for us when we find young children," he said.In
this case, powder residues were on the floor of the house and the
pills themselves were a mix of bright colours, he said, looking very
much like candy.

Police also seized presses used to turn powder into pills and tools
to imprint them with symbols, including Tweety Bird or a dolphin.
These are used by manufacturers to differentiate their product in the
marketplace, Det. Sgt. Malcolm said.