Pubdate: Fri, 02 Apr 2004
Source: Ottawa Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2004, Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact:  http://www.fyiottawa.com/ottsun.shtml
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/329
Author: Laura Czekaj, Ottawa Sun
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?188 (Outlaw Bikers)

COPS PREDICT MORE BUSTS

Massive Drug Investigation Smokes Out Leads on Smaller Cartels Across City

THE DRAMATIC takedown of an Ottawa-based drug cartel will help expose the 
remaining big-time drug producers in the city, police said yesterday. "I am 
sure there are other, smaller cartels with links to other facets of 
organized crime," said Ottawa police drug unit Insp. Doug Handy.

Those smaller cartels include biker gangs that are involved in the drug trade.

Just hours after Wednesday's bust of a high-profile criminal organization 
allegedly led by mastermind Mai Le, 38, Ottawa police drug investigators 
received several tips about other operations.

"When you get involved in any organized crime file, you start seeing 
offshoots like the spokes of a wheel," Handy said.

"You could be following those for the next 30 years and still you wouldn't 
have enough staff or resources to follow up all the loose threads."

But the public is guaranteed the war on drugs will produce more arrests.

With the increased awareness on the size of these operations in the city, 
police expect more tips to come in from the public.

"The tips won't stop coming in because of (Wednesday's) culmination of 
Project Codi," Handy said.

GROW OPS SHUT DOWN

An early morning, carefully orchestrated wave of 32 searches on a number of 
area residences, businesses and bank accounts Wednesday resulted in police 
shutting down eight grow ops in neighbourhoods across the city. They also 
seized more than $1 million in cash, more than 1,000 marijuana plants, 
$100,000 in growing equipment and computers.

Simultaneous police raids were conducted in Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and 
16 U.S. cities, including Houston, Los Angeles, Boston and New York.

The massive sweep nabbed more than 150 suspects -- 29 in Ottawa -- 
including Le and eight members of her family.

"It will not eliminate the drug situation in the Ottawa area," said RCMP 
Staff Sgt. Jacques Lemieux. "But I am quite positive it will have an impact."

If there is a downside to the operation, it's that it won't stem the flow 
of drugs onto Ottawa streets. Most of the drugs allegedly produced by the 
people arrested Wednesday were being exported to the U.S., where big money 
can be made.

These drug operations were no "ma-and-pa shops" generating small quantities 
of drugs. The criminal organization operated in Canada, the U.S., Vietnam 
and parts of Southeast Asia. It produced an estimated 15% of all the 
ecstasy sold in the U.S., and ran large-scale, high-potency marijuana grow 
ops in Canada.

"This organization was growing it for profit and they were making huge 
profits from this," said Lemieux. "By eliminating the people exporting it, 
yes that will have an impact on the Ottawa area."

Yesterday, local police continued their search for more suspects who are 
believed to still be in the area. One man turned himself in.

"This investigation is far from being over, because now we have all the 
court proceedings," said Lemieux. "The biggest part was to arrest these 
individuals, get enough information on them to be able to bring them in 
front of the court. Now we have the judicial part to do."

Ironically, the court proceedings, which force investigators to divulge how 
their investigation was conducted, will allow organized crime groups to use 
that information to their benefit to avoid detection in the future.

"Once the information is put out there, it will be available to all the 
accused," said Lemieux. "These individuals are associated with other 
criminal organizations, so yes, they will share their information."

An intelligence investigation by Ottawa police in late 2001 led to this 
week's widespread drug bust, which involved 64 federal, state, provincial 
and local law enforcement agencies across Canada and the U.S.

"We knew we were on to something of a large scale, but I don't think we 
anticipated what a monster of a file this would become," said Handy.

Early on, Ottawa police drug officers realized they could not handle a case 
of this magnitude alone.

JOINT OPERATION

They sought out partnerships with other law enforcement agencies and 
subsequently formed a joint management team consisting of the RCMP, OPP, 
the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Criminal Intelligence 
Service Ontario, said Handy.

Other joint forces operations sprung up between Ontario's Combined Forces 
Special Enforcement Unit, the FBI, DEA, IRS, and other police services in 
the U.S.

The operation in Ottawa was a success largely because the criminals had no 
idea the police were hot on their trail.

"If there were any concerns by the cartel of police involvement, we are not 
aware of it," said Handy. "There were no major concerns, no glitches that 
would have been a big hurdle to this project at all."

Police claim a Toronto resident, Ze Wai Wong, 49, who was also arrested 
during the extensive raid, headed the international ecstasy network.

The alleged ringleader of the Ottawa criminal organization, Mai Le, was 
responsible for the money-laundering aspects of the Wong business, as well 
as for other criminal organizations in the U.S. and Montreal. Her 
organization laundered $5 million US each month.

Although Le has lived in Canada for several years, she first appeared on 
the police radar about five years ago.

"She might have been involved indirectly or directly in other small 
criminal activity, but nothing to this extent," said Lemieux. "That is why 
she became more and more prevalent within this investigation because of her 
role with this organization."

Suspects from every echelon of the criminal cartel were arrested in the 
police sweep -- from the couriers who would run the money to the street 
drug dealers to the chief executive and financial officers, said Lemieux.

Despite the groups links to violence in the U.S. -- including murder -- the 
Ottawa branch has yet to be tied to any acts of violence, he said.

The next step in the local investigation is to track down remaining 
suspects who are still on the loose and dig through the evidence to find 
leads to other drug rings and grow houses operating in the capital, said 
Ottawa police Staff Sgt. Marc Pinault.

"It doesn't stop as of Wednesday, it continues on," he said. "We are seeing 
what we gained (Wednesday) or what we didn't. It will help us decide what 
direction we are going to go in."
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager