National Overview

Asian-based criminal groups, particularly the DAI HUEN JAI and Vietnamese-based gangs, continue to pose a significant threat to public safety across Canada. Vietnamese groups are known for their extreme violence and use of automatic weapons. Asian-based street gang violence is on the rise in several cities. Most of these gangs have direct connections to more sophisticated Asian organized crime groups.

Asian-based organized crime (AOC) continues to have almost exclusive control over the importation and distribution of heroin. They cooperate with Traditional organized crime groups, Colombian crime groups and Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs in some drug ventures.

Another criminal enterprise dominated by AOC is the production and use of forged credit cards. By employing the latest "skimming" technology, Asian groups are expanding upon their already extensive credit card fraud schemes. Skimming is the illegal capture of electronic data from legitimate cards. Data swiped through a surreptitious card reader is later placed on a forged credit card.

Illegal migrant smuggling from China remains a major concern for law enforcement. Although most migrants transit Canada en route to the United States, an increasing number are remaining in Canada.

Loan-sharking and illegal gaming at legal casinos is an expanding area for AOC in several provinces. The resulting violence and social disruption, combined with the increased capital available for investing in drug importations, makes this another significant concern for law enforcement.

AOC groups continue their involvement in prostitution, car theft, staged vehicle accidents, welfare and employment insurance fraud, commodity smuggling, contract killings and assaults, extortion and corruption. Canada's social welfare and health systems are affected by this criminality.

Regional Overview

AOC groups operating in British Columbia include the DAI HUEN JAI (also known as Big Circle Boys or BCB), Lotus and numerous other Vietnamese and Chinese gangs. The DAI HUEN JAI are primarily Chinese from the south of China, while the Lotus are mainly Canadian born Chinese. Asian felons travel to and from Southeast Asia, Australia, the United States and Eastern Canada. In the province of British Columbia, Asian criminal activities include drug trafficking/importation, auto theft, theft, break and enter (home invasion), credit card fraud, fraud, gaming, extortion, assault, prostitution, shoplifting rings, property crime, armed robbery, kidnapping and homicide.

At the street level AOC groups in British Columbia control most of the heroin and cocaine trade in that province with the assistance of Indo-Canadian gangs and outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs).

AOC drug importers and traffickers are entrenched in Vancouver and maintain close links with associates in other parts of Canada. Drug trafficking is Vancouver's predominant criminal activity and both the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have stated that many of their major Southeast Asian heroin investigations have a Canadian link. There have been incidents where heroin has been stockpiled in British Columbia for shipment to eastern Canada or the United States.

Vietnamese criminals are attempting to set up their contacts, to do their own importations of heroin directly from the Golden Triangle through either China or Vietnam. This would entail smaller scale importations, with couriers body packing less than 5 kg. The heroin is brought into British Columbia for subsequent distribution throughout North America. Vietnamese criminals are increasing their involvement in cocaine distribution, marihuana grow operations and, most recently, in the manufacture of methamphetamine.

During the past year, there have been several significant heroin seizures in Australia in which Canadian nationals have either been arrested or directly linked to the operations. Many of the Canadians identified are former Hong Kong or Chinese nationals. These syndicates have direct links to major targets residing in China, Hong Kong and Thailand and are of particular interest to the law enforcement agencies of those countries.

In November 1998, 70 kilograms of heroin with purities of up to 90 per cent were seized in British Columbia as part of an RCMP Greater Vancouver Drug Section investigation. This was the second largest seizure of heroin in British Columbia history, worth an estimated $14 million. The investigation focussed on major heroin importation operations involving the upper echelon of an Asian organized crime group. International in scope, it involved a number of countries including China, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada and the United States and included the Toronto Police Service, and Australian and United States police agencies. The group under investigation believed that it could control the market price of heroin by dictating supply. Associates of this organization were also producing counterfeit documents and credit cards and smuggling illegal migrants into Canada. Recent investigations indicate that importations of the magnitude seized in the November 1998 investigation are continually underway.

Another drug project involved Triad organizations from Los Angeles and San Francisco. Two members of this crime group conducted felonious activities between Vancouver, California and the Boston area. These activities included the theft of vehicles for shipment to China, the murder of a Coquitlam resident and the export of heroin to the United States in exchange for cocaine to be sold on the streets of Vancouver.

Information indicates that within the Kamloops region, AOC controls most of the heroin and cocaine trade. This is also apparent on the northern part of Vancouver Island, where 80 to 85 per cent of the heroin/cocaine trade is controlled by the Vietnamese.

Besides the heroin and cocaine trade, the northern Vancouver Island Vietnamese criminals have expanded into marihuana grow operations and the methamphetamine industry. Vietnamese criminals in Vancouver now are responsible for approximately 80 per cent of the hydroponic marijuana grow operations that are investigated by the police.

There is a trend to market cocaine and heroin to potential new users, including middle class youth. Asian criminal groups around the Lower Mainland area are now operating "dial a dope franchise and delivery services", which also enables them to expand their user market.

In addition to narcotics importing and trafficking, Asian-based organized crime is involved in other criminal activity in British Columbia.

In late December 1998, a violent kidnapping for ransom occurred in Richmond. Police rescued an 18 year old girl who had been beaten, drugged and sexually assaulted. In a media interview, a member of the New York City Police Department, who has dealt with numerous Asian kidnappings, warned that immigrants from Hong Kong could become a primary focus for kidnapping by Asian criminal gangs because many are believed to have moved their financial empires to British Columbia.

Violence continues to be used by AOC to settle internal disputes. In June 1998, the leader of one of the most active Vietnamese gangs operating in southern British Columbia was murdered. Jimmy NGUYEN Sang Van was shot 10 to 20 times with an automatic weapon.

Vietnamese criminals continue to exploit lax sentencing for property crimes. Large scale shoplifting networks run by AOC continue to act as suppliers to property houses where the stolen goods are sold at a large discount to a select market. These operations earn millions of dollars and often involve repeat offenders. The criminal profits of these organizations are investigated by Proceeds of Crime units.

Organized Vietnamese groups who stage motor vehicle accidents remain a significant concern to the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC), which has expanded its cooperation with law enforcement. ICBC is now beginning to use the courts in an attempt to deter these groups by taking the profit out of their criminal enterprises.

During 1998, a DAI HUEN JAI cell was responsible for moving over $1 million dollars in counterfeit currency into Vancouver from Toronto. This amount consisted of Canadian $100 and $50 notes and US $50 notes. The cell distributed the notes to other criminal groups throughout the province, including Indo-Canadian drug trafficking organizations.

The most recent arrests in British Columbia represent the biggest blow to Asian-based crime in Canada in over a decade. Two projects took over two years to complete and concluded with the arrest of 32 suspects who were involved in heroin importation, credit card counterfeiting, illegal gambling, loansharking, obstructing justice, extortion, car thefts, smuggling, and a drive by shooting. The accused lived in Victoria, Vancouver, Hong Kong, San Juan and Las Vegas. The investigations had links in Canada, the United States, Puerto Rico, Hong Kong and Thailand. These top echelon criminals recruited and employed a street gang with over 200 members in the lower mainland.

AOC in Alberta continues to be strongly influenced by the mobility of Vancouver and Toronto based Asian criminals who are involved in commodity smuggling, the distribution of counterfeit currency and the use of forged credit cards. Local groups maintain their involvement in gaming related and property crimes. Although cocaine remains the predominant illicit drug and primary source of income for Asian criminals, the presence of heroin is steadily increasing.

The Alberta heroin trade is controlled by AOC and supplied from Southeast Asia, through sources in Vancouver. Chinese and Vietnamese drug syndicates from Calgary and Edmonton have established a permanent presence in the Northwest Territories. In 1998, the RCMP was successful in investigating and prosecuting several major figures in Yellowknife.

During the summer of 1998, there was a rash of forged credit card frauds in Edmonton. Calgary is experiencing a series of counterfeit currency offences involving Asian criminals. The arrests in Regina and Revelstoke of Asian criminals distributing counterfeit Canadian $100 notes produced by the DAI HUEN JAI in Toronto, and dispersed by a second DAI HUEN JAI cell in Vancouver, are further evidence of the mobility and capacity of Asian criminal groups to network and acquire contraband goods country wide.

The attempted murder of an individual in Calgary is further evidence of the strong link between Calgary and Vancouver. This individual had been accused by gang members of interfering in a scheme to procure local girls for a prostitution group in the lower mainland of British Columbia. His attempt to counsel the girls to avoid a life of prostitution was perceived a threat to the gang's business. Several gang members were summoned from Surrey to attack the victim in retaliation. This group was convicted of stabbing and shooting the victim after forcing their way into his Calgary home.

Asian criminals have used legal casinos in Calgary for cheating at play, loansharking, and drug trafficking.

The major centres of activity for Asian-based organized crime in Saskatchewan are still the larger municipalities. In the past, this province has been the source of Asian crime enterprises, such as credit card fraud, counterfeiting and illegal immigration, that are completed in another region. It is apparent over the past year that these criminal activities persist, and they are being carried out with a higher degree of sophistication.

In reaction to the new HELLS ANGELS chapter in Saskatoon, Asian drug traffickers have stepped up their activities in an effort to maintain their clientele in a newly competitive market. Asian groups have also made a concerted move into Lloydminster, an area that has historically been supplied by outlaw motorcycle gangs. There are indications that some Asian groups are attempting to increase their share of the Regina drug market specifically because the HELLS ANGELS have no strong presence there.

Some criminals involved in Asian business communities continue to participate in the smuggling of cigarettes, liquor and other contraband. Illegal gambling in back rooms of restaurants, businesses and homes continues. Prostitution operations are also conducted in these venues as well as through telephone contacts.

Asian-based organized crime in Ontario consists of four elements: Triads, gangs, DAI HUEN JAI (BCB) and criminal syndicates. These criminal organizations engage in numerous enterprises, regularly sharing expertise and personnel.

As in other provinces, the importation of heroin into Ontario is among the most profitable and prolific crimes committed by AOC. Heroin with a purity as high as 99 per cent from Thailand and China is primarily controlled through the DAI HUEN JAI in the Greater Toronto Area. Although the DAI HUEN JAI are the major importers of heroin into Canada, Vietnamese gangs are mainly responsible for street level distribution.

In Toronto, Asian-based criminal groups do not hesitate to resort to violence, particularly in car-jackings. A number of these vehicles are smuggled to Asia. The high demand for luxury vehicles abroad is related to the lack of automobile dealerships and the high tariffs on imported vehicles. As long as these conditions exist, Asian-based crime groups in Canada will continue to steal targeted vehicles for shipment overseas.

Ontario AOC groups and their associates have access to high powered firearms and have been involved in extreme forms of violence. They have committed a number of murders, usually related to territorial disputes. It is not unusual for gang members in Ontario to import criminals from other North American Asian communities to commit violent crimes in Ontario. Also, Ontario
gang members who commit violent crimes there often flee to other Asian communities outside the province.

Violent street gangs are active in the Greater Toronto Area, Hamilton and Ottawa. These gangs are Asian based but also include members belonging to other ethnic groups.

In 1998, two Asian-based migrant smuggling networks were dismantled and 47 smugglers were arrested by Canadian and US authorities. Over a period of at least two years, these groups allegedly smuggled as many as 3,600 illegal Chinese immigrants from Fujian into New York State through Vancouver and Toronto. The smugglers are believed to have moved 100 to 150 migrants per month into the United States at a cost of approximately US $47,000 per person, for a total profit of an estimated US$170 million over two years.

A 1998 investigation into the smuggling of migrants from China to Toronto involved the RCMP, the Toronto Combined Forces Asian Investigative Unit, Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the US Immigration and Naturalization Service. There are a number of organized smuggling groups moving people from China to Toronto and on to New York using fraudulent documents. In December 1998, 11 people were arrested and charged in Canada and 30 were arrested and charged in the United States.

Persons entering Canada illegally are often en route to the United States, travelling on forged documents provided to them by the criminal organizations. Many illegal migrants travel under inhumane and at times life-threatening conditions. They are often forced to work off their debts by engaging in criminal activity. In the past few years, several thousand Fukienese have remained in Canada after entering the country illegally.

According to a spokesperson for Visa, AOC groups are believed to be responsible for manufacturing and distributing 75 to 80 per cent of all forged Canadian payment cards in use worldwide. Much of this activity is centred in Toronto, followed by Vancouver and Montreal. Asian-based criminals are also involved in credit card forgery, abetted by their international networks that permit them to share expertise and exchange personnel.

The DAI HUEN JAI are major contributors to global counterfeit credit card activity. They are continually developing new technology to defeat the security mechanisms put in place by credit card companies. Police in Ontario dismantled a major DAI HUEN JAI counterfeit credit card syndicate in December 1998.

Several Toronto and Vancouver-based DAI HUEN JAI members have been linked to the manufacture and distribution of counterfeit Canadian $100 bank notes. Several Asian and East European co-conspirators planned to use the proceeds from illicit credit card transactions to support and finance the manufacture the counterfeit notes.

Asian-based organized crime in Quebec is found almost exclusively in the Greater Montreal area. Approximately 30 groups participate in narcotic importing and exporting, credit card fraud schemes, counterfeit currency distribution, extortions, prostitution, home invasions, assaults, migrant smuggling and alcohol and cigarette smuggling.

Approximately 20 of these groups operate at the national or international level. AOC in Montreal is dominated by Vietnamese individuals or ethnic Chinese born in Vietnam. Montreal has two street gangs that have had violent disputes in the past. The Red Blood gang is made up mainly of Cambodian and Laotian youth, while the Black Dragons are primarily Vietnamese youth. The Black Dragons are supported by a more sophisticated AOC group with international connections.

Extortion predicated on the financial needs of a powerful Vietnamese gang leader based in Boston has come to an end in Montreal. TRUONG Chi Trung terrorized Montreal and Toronto in the early 1990's. After he was arrested in Canada and incarcerated in Boston, his gang was involved in a series of extortion schemes to raise money for his legal fees. In early 1998 TRUONG was sentenced to minimum of 22 years.

One of the hallmarks of AOC in Canada is its mobility. Groups from Toronto and Montreal have used New Brunswick to distribute counterfeit currency and to obtain credit data later used on forged credit cards. A group of Vietnamese gang members from Montreal was apprehended in St. John as they were distributing counterfeit Canadian $100 notes produced by a DAI HUEN JAI group in Toronto.

At one time, AOC groups attempted to establish high stakes illegal gaming operations in St. John's, Newfoundland. The severe sentences handed down to those criminals who were convicted early in the scheme seem to have deterred others from continuing the enterprise.
 

Outlook Asian-based organized crime will continue to dominate the heroin trade and the smuggling of migrants from Asia. It will expand its involvement with other types of contraband.    Asian criminal organizations will continue to establish alliances with other organized crime groups to facilitate their illegal activities. In some areas, however, violence is expected as they encroach on established territories and drug markets.    Since Asian-based criminal organizations continue to function as tightly-knit groups, they will remain a challenge to police and law enforcement operations.

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