Pubdate: Thu, 27 Jan 2000 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: The Vancouver Sun 2000 Contact: 200 Granville Street, Ste.#1, Vancouver BC V6C 3N3 Fax: (604) 605-2323 Website: http://www.vancouversun.com/ Author: Chad Skelton, Vancouver Sun ONLY 9 OF 57 DRUG SUSPECTS KEPT IN JAIL PENDING TRIALS Police Voice Disappointment But Are Pleased Some Have Been Given Area Restrictions Of 57 alleged drug dealers arrested in a Vancouver police crackdown this month, only nine have been held in custody pending their trial, police said Wednesday. Vancouver police spokeswoman Constable Anne Drennan said that although police are disappointed so few are in custody, they are encouraged that 35 of those released were given "area restrictions" that prevent them from returning to areas of the Downtown Eastside or certain SkyTrain stations. Five suspects were released without area restrictions and five were released with no restrictions at all, Drennan said. Two are still awaiting a bail hearing and one has pleaded guilty. But while 35 suspects are forbidden from entering certain areas, Drennan knew of only one who was banned from all SkyTrain stations. Most were only told to stay away from Broadway station. In the past, police have blamed limited-area restrictions for simply moving the region's drug problem from one station to the next. After New Westminster city police cracked down on drug-dealing earlier this year, and successfully sought area restrictions, Burnaby noticed increased dealing at Metrotown. Inspector Chris Beach told a meeting of the Vancouver police board Wednesday that undercover officers observed two-thirds of the suspects using SkyTrain as their primary means of transportation. Drennan agreed that area restrictions that prohibit dealers from being near one station "tends to move them to another location." She said police would like to see area restrictions that cover the entire SkyTrain route. "For us it would be . . . an excellent condition," she said. This month's arrests are part of Project Focus, a crackdown on drug-dealing carried out by police in Vancouver, Burnaby and New Westminster. The undercover operation, which focused on both SkyTrain and the Downtown Eastside, began in mid-December. In total, police are seeking 157 suspects across the Lower Mainland -- 63 of whom are refugee claimants, primarily from Honduras. Beach said Hondurans had been in Canada for periods ranging from six days to four years, but that more than 70 per cent had been in Vancouver for less than six months. Like Canadian dealers, most Honduran refugee claimants have been released by the courts. And while some refugee claimants have been detained by immigration authorities, most have not. Leon Benoit, the federal Reform party's immigration critic, said his party believes all refugee claimants who arrive in Canada illegally should be detained while they await a decision from the Immigration and Refugee Board on their status. After most of the Chinese migrants who arrived on the first boat this summer disappeared, Immigration Canada successfully sought the continued detention of almost all migrants from the other ships. The department must argue for detention in front of independent IRB adjudicators. Rob Johnston, manager of immigration enforcement for Vancouver, said the case for detention is more difficult to make for the Hondurans. Under the Immigration Act, claimants can only be detained if they are unlikely to appear for their hearing or pose a danger to the public. The "vast majority" of Honduran refugee claimants here make their claims at the immigration offices in downtown Vancouver after already entering the country, Johnston said. Because they have come forward to make claims, unlike the Chinese migrants who were caught, it is much more difficult to argue that they are not committed to the refugee process, he said. As well, when the provincial court releases an alleged drug dealer, deciding the suspect does not pose a risk to the public, it is more difficult for immigration authorities to argue before the IRB that the claimant is dangerous, he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Allan Wilkinson