Asian-based Organized Crime (AOC)

National Overview

Asian-based organized crime (AOC) in Canada is highly mobile, culturally and linguistically diverse and largely composed of loosely-knit networks. AOC groups are entrenched in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario, and are increasingly active in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec and Atlantic Canada. AOC groups continue to associate with other organized crime groups nationally and internationally, particularly in the United States and Southeast Asia.

Asian-based criminal groups are entrepreneurial and are often involved in multiple criminal activities simultaneously. AOC groups remain involved in illicit drug importation, production and trafficking, credit/payment card fraud, illegal gaming, casino loansharking, prostitution and operating massage parlours, money laundering and migrant smuggling. Asian-based criminal groups remain extensively involved in the large-scale importation and distribution of Southeast Asian heroin and continue to expand their role in cocaine importation and trafficking. The groups remain active in the manufacturing and trafficking of illicit synthetic drugs such as ecstasy. AOC continue to launder criminal proceeds and invest laundered money into legitimate businesses and criminal activities.

Vietnamese-based groups continue to be extensively involved in the large-scale cultivation and trafficking of residentially-grown marihuana. These groups are entrenched in B.C. and Southern Ontario and are expanding marihuana cultivation in Alberta and Atlantic Canada. These operations are typically highly organized with extensive interprovincial networks and drug distribution networks to the U.S. In one operation, a Vietnamese-based group shipped marihuana grown in the B.C. Lower Mainland by rail to Ontario and then transported a portion of that marihuana in tractor trailers to the U.S. In a separate Ontario-based investigation, individuals associated to a Vietnamese-based crime group operated hydroponic equipment stores which, in addition to selling equipment, offered to set up hydroponic equipment for marihuana grow operations, supply plant clones, assist in harvesting the plants and find buyers for the crop. Vietnamese-based criminal groups will remain active in large-scale marihuana cultivation in order to take advantage of the high profits, low risk and relatively lenient sentences.

In the marihuana industry, competition between crime groups and the threat of crop theft continues to result in home invasions, burglaries, assaults, murders and booby-trap related injuries. Residential marihuana grow operations pose significant health hazards to the public: toxic moulds, numerous fire hazards, chemical vapours from a variety of pesticides and the risk of electrocution.

Some criminal profits generated through the cultivation and trafficking of marihuana by Vietnamese-based criminal groups are reinvested by the group to finance other illicit activities, such as the importation of ecstasy, liquid hashish and cocaine. In 2003, a Vietnamese-based criminal group was involved in storing large amounts of precursor drugs for the production of ecstasy in two Ottawa-area warehouses that could have produced an estimated 200 000 to 300 000 pills. In the production of ecstasy, toxic fumes from solvents and potentially violent chemical reactions pose a threat to the public.

Violence continues to be a regular occurrence within AOC groups. In Calgary and Edmonton, competition between AOC groups for control of the illicit drug trade has resulted in murders, numerous drive-by shootings and assaults.