American and Canadian Officials Crack Down On Drug Rings

April 2nd, 2004 · Post your comment (No Comments)

SUMMARY:

Part One: Ecstasy

Ecstasy is mistakenly thought of as a “harmless” drug by teens and trendy night clubbers. This has led to a serious drug problem with the young people of America today.

But, thankfully and finally, Drug Enforcement Administration Chief Karen Tandy said the two-year investigation concluded in the arrests of the entire drug trafficking operation.

Arrest and search warrants were executed in 16 American cities, with Canadian authorities serving 50 arrest warrants in Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal.

Part Two: Heroin

Who are these gangsters who’ve been flooding Canada and America with heroin?

The mostly Asian organized crime gang had been shipping heroin from Southeast Asia to markets in Canada and the United States, in an operation so large that it could manipulate drug prices across North America at will.

For the past three years the powerful crime cartel trucked heroin from the poppy fields of the Golden Triangle into Chinas notorious Fujian Province and shipped the drug west to be sold on the streets of Vancouver, Toronto, New York and other North American cities.

Last week, in an unprecedented joint operation between the Americans and the Chinese, the drug syndicate was busted and the hierarchy of the drug cartel was arrested.

The former drug dealer in Manhattans Chinatown who had been jailed on drug charges and deported was arrested, said U.S. officials.

The Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada estimates that 95 per cent of heroin smuggled into Canada originates in Southeast Asia.

Burma to Vancouver:

The crime gang’s operations stretched from Burma to Vancouver’s East Side, which has a notorious heroin problem.

Police say heroin was sometimes stockpiled in Canada in an effort to limit North American supplies and drive up prices.

The Heroin Seizure:

Most of the Vancouver heroin seizure came from a Chinese vessel entering the city’s harbor.

Canadian police said that smugglers liked to work from Canada because its drug laws carried lesser penalties than those in the United States.

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American and Canadian Officials Crack Down On Drug Rings

Written by Angela Valkyrie

Part One: Ecstasy

Friday, April 02, 2004 - According to authorities the U.S.-Canadian drug trafficking ring responsible for 15 percent of all the Ecstasy smuggled into America has been completely dismantled.

The drug smugglers had been distributing over 1 million Ecstasy tablets per month into America and laundered $5 million a month using travel agencies and bank transfers in the United States, officials said.
Ecstasy is a controlled substance known as a popular “club drug” because of its popularity at “raves” and night clubs.

The trendy popularity of doing Ecstasy at these illegal “raves” and night clubs eventually spread to high schools and college young people.
An estimated 3.2 million people were using the drug in 2002, as indicated by the DEA.

Ecstasy like drugs such as Cocaine were once thought of as “harmless” drugs in trendy drug circles.

Research has found that prolonged, heavy use of Ecstasy can cause confusion, depression, anxiety, aggressive and impulsive behavior, memory loss and even death according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Its popularity has caught the attention of criminal “Gangsta” enterprises because of big profits. Ecstasy capsules (shown above) sold at about $4 a piece wholesale in the operation typically cost $15 to $20 a pop on the street.

The organization targeted by U.S. and Canadian authorities consisted largely of people with Asian, Hispanic and African-American backgrounds, according to court documents. The alleged ringleaders were Ze Wai Wong, 46, a Chinese citizen, and Mai Phuong Le, 38, a Vietnamese citizen. Wong was arrested in Toronto and Le in Ottawa.

They operated three labs in Canada, which were discovered and dismantled in August, authorities said. The pills often were smuggled across the U.S. border or inside Canada in compartments within vehicle gas tanks.

The drug ring also used hidden gas tank compartments to transport cash. In one instance, the search of a vehicle headed for Canada in Burlington, Vt., yielded $750,000 drug money in U.S. currency hidden in the compartment.

“These methods, are ‘a signal to us that, as we feared, the profits available in Ecstasy are attracting new traffickers and new ways of trafficking,” said Deputy Attorney General James Comey.

“We Wiped Out This Entire Organization.”

Drug Enforcement Administration Chief Karen Tandy said the two-year investigation concluded in the arrests of the entire trafficking operation.

“We wiped out this entire organization,” Tandy said at a news conference.

Of those charged in arrest warrants, about 145 had been arrested as of Wednesday afternoon. Arrest and search warrants were executed in 16 American cities, with Canadian authorities serving 50 arrest warrants in Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal.

Arrests were made in these U.S. cities: Houston; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Oakland, Calif.; San Jose, Calif.; Jacksonville, Fla.; New Orleans; Baton Rouge, La.; Mobile, Ala.; New York; Boston; Atlanta; Alexandria, Va.; Des Moines, Iowa; Minneapolis and Salt Lake City.

Part Two: Heroin

Who are these gangsters who’ve been flooding Canada and America with heroin?

Police have arrested 28 suspects and seized 54kg of heroin in a massive operation against the same major international drugs ring operating out of the Canadian port of Vancouver.

“When you start dealing with heroin at the multi-kilogram level, you are dealing with the top echelon of heroin movement throughout the world,” said Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sergeant Patrick Convey.
They called themselves the Untouchables because of their ability to avoid capture.

Using underground banks to launder the millions of dollars raised by the illicit trade, the gang had an international network of retail cells at the street level to distribute the heroin, which was being shipped in containers.

Last week, in an unprecedented joint operation between the Americans and the Chinese, the drug syndicate was busted and the hierarchy of the drug cartel was arrested.

Anthony Placido, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administrations New York office, said that the drug organization was one of the worlds largest, operating from the farms of Burma to the arms of addicts in United States and Canada.

He said the high-grade smack moved from the poppy fields of Myanmar, formerly Burma, to the docks of Fujian Province on Chinas southeast coast and ultimately to the streets of Chinatown in Manhattan for distribution throughout the United States and Canada.

As a result of the joint-operation, 25 people have been indicted on federal drug-trafficking charges in New York.

Those charged in the U.S. federal court after a nearly two-year investigation are accused of smuggling more than US$100 million worth of heroin from Southeast Asia since 2000, officials said.

Ten of those indicted were arrested in Manhattan and are to be arraigned this week. If convicted of the drug charges, each faces a maximum term of life imprisonment.

Eight others were arrested in China, including the four alleged ringleaders, whom officials collectively called the Untouchables because they had avoided arrest.

The eight will be tried in China.

Two additional arrests occurred in Hong Kong and Miami.

Another five people under indictment are being sought, authorities said.

Chinese media quoting the Fujian Public Security Bureau reported that an unknown sum of money and vehicles were also seized by police in the joint-swoop in east Chinas Fujian province.

This is an unprecedented event, U.S. Attorney James Comey told a news conference.

The alleged smuggling ring was taken down a week earlier than U.S. officials had planned, Comey said, because of developments in the case in China.

According to a five-count indictment filed with the U.S. courts the crime cartel was known as the 125 Organization because one of its leaders, Kin Cheung Wong, was also known as 125.

Wong and three other ringleaders were also known in China as the Untouchables because of their ability to elude the authorities.

Wong is a former drug dealer in Manhattans Chinatown who had been jailed on drug charges and deported, said U.S. officials.

Law enforcement sources said the investigation began nearly two years ago by the NYPD, who used undercover cops and confidential informants to infiltrate the gang.

What they found was a sophisticated drug operation. We still don’t know how they kept coming in and out of the country. They were that good, said one law enforcement source.

These guys were moving huge quantities of heroin in and out of the U.S., and none of them were even legal (migrants).

The crime gang’s dealers in New York’s Chinatown and Queens were extraordinarily paranoid, often changing cars, clothes and ducking under vehicles to elude investigators, the source said.

Chinese law enforcement wire tapped the Untouchables, but what was gathered couldn’t be used to make a case under Chinese law.

They used our evidence and our surveillance to make the cases overseas, said a high-ranking police official, according to the New York Post.

The American Justice Department considered the case so important they fronted the Chinese government US $180,000 - money that was not recovered and probably never will be, the paper said.

The Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada estimates that 95 per cent of heroin smuggled into Canada originates in Southeast Asia.

According to its latest report, Southeast Asian heroin typically enters Canada through Vancouver, Toronto or Montreal international airports and major marine ports in British Columbia.

A portion of this heroin is then smuggled to the U.S criminal groups composed of individuals of Chinese descent who operate on both sides of the border and control distribution.

The Asian crime groups continue to associate with other organized crime groups, nationally and internationally, such as African-American “gangstas”, Hispanic Mafia and Russian mafia cartels and to expand their association with youth and street gangs.

Members of street and youth gangs are typically used as a labor pool for their criminal activities, security and as a source of recruits.

There are a number of active Asian-based street gangs in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec, which are used by drug cartels as retail cells to distribute drugs.

The gang also dealt in extortion and credit card fraud on a global scale.

Burma to Vancouver

Most of the suspects are from the Vancouver area, but the FBI has also charged gang members from as far as New York, Las Vegas and Puerto Rico.
Vancouver police were tipped off that a suspected “gangsta” leader living in the city was to be kidnapped or have his house fire-bombed, and used the information to uncover a wider gang network in a three-year investigation.

The gang’s operations stretched from Burma to Vancouver’s East Side, which has a notorious heroin problem.

Police say heroin was sometimes stockpiled in Canada in an effort to limit North American supplies and drive up prices.

UP IN SMOKE: The Heroin Seizure

Most of the Vancouver heroin seizure came from a Chinese vessel entering the city’s harbor.

A million containers pass through the port every year, but police and customs officials only manage to search 3% of the vessels.
They have long complained that they are fighting a losing battle against the heroin trade.

According to the RCMP’s Sergeant Convey, the suspects felt Vancouver was a safe place for business.

“I would have to say Vancouver is definitely one of the major areas for the distribution of heroin coming in from Southeast Asia for the entire North American market,” he said.

Canadian police said that smugglers liked to work from Canada because its drug laws carried lesser penalties than those in the United States.