Pubdate: Thu, 07 Aug 2008 Source: Prince George Citizen (CN BC) Copyright: 2008 Prince George Citizen Contact: http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/350 Author: Frank Peebles, Citizen Staff SHACKLED MAN FOUND IN CRACK HOUSE TORTURE CHAMBER Prince George RCMP say they discovered a torture chamber in a crack house last week, and one of its victims was still bound there when they burst in. According to police, they were given tips from the public and searched a house in the 2200 block of Norwood Street on July 30. Passersby heard suspicious sounds coming from the house and when police entered to investigate, screams were heard coming from the basement. "While investigating the residence, members found the basement and a shackled man," said RCMP spokeswoman Const. Lesley Dix, who added that there has been a number of recent incidents that have exposed "a world of drug abuse and torture" the likes of which the city has never seen. Details about the shackled man were not disclosed because the case is important and sensitive, and part of a pattern, Dix said. "We have a number of forcible confinement charges awaiting approval and this incident was being added to those charges," she said. "They are connected through the organized crime drug trade and we could be dealing with some of the same players in some of the charges that are pending, and they are all connected to the Independent Soldiers." The Independent Soldiers have stepped into a lead role lately in the local drug trade, Mounties said, since the prior dominant street gang, the Crew, suffered heavy losses to police. The Crew, court documents have revealed, were ruthless and, said Dix "very, very violent" with documented incidents of body mutilation and vicious pain inflicted on its victims. But this new group is worse and "right now we are very concerned for public safety." The torturing, she said, is a terror tactic gang enforcers are using on those who don't pay drug debts as little as $100. The beatings are severe and can go on for days. "This is their way, with this extortion and kidnapping and beating, to show who is boss and to make them an example if they don't pay or if they steal from each other," Dix said. "When you are shackled in the basement of a building, you could imagine the fear of not knowing when the torture will end. The psychological fear is something that is used on the victim." While some of this violence and mental anguish is being forced on members of the gangs themselves, most of it is happening to common addicts who get in over their head, Dix explained. These are members of the general public, "absolutely people's sons and daughters with loving families," who are the victims of torture. - --- MAP posted-by: Steve Heath