Asian-based Organized Crime (AOC)

Français	Table of contents	Index	Main Menu

Criminal Intelligence Service Canada - 2004

Asian-based Organized Crime (AOC)

Highlights

Asian-based organized crime (AOC) in the B.C. Lower Mainland and greater Toronto area (GTA) influences criminal activities and the supply of illicit commodities to other organized crime groups in various regions across the country.
A number of AOC networks across the country are involved in sophisticated, high-level criminal activities, particularly the importation and distribution of cocaine, ecstasy and methamphetamine and the large-scale cultivation and distribution of marihuana within Canada and to the U.S.

National Overview

AOC in Canada is highly active in the B.C. Lower Mainland, Calgary, Edmonton and GTA, with concentrated activity in Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg and Halifax. In these regions, there are a number of strategically focused and highly sophisticated networks involved in a wide range of criminal enterprises. AOC in the Lower Mainland supplies illicit commodities to AOC and other criminal groups in Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, Saskatoon and Winnipeg and it also influences criminal activities in those areas. AOC continues to associate with other organized crime groups nationally and internationally, particularly in the U.S. and southeast Asia.

AOC groups remain involved in payment card fraud, illegal gaming, loan-sharking, prostitution and human smuggling/trafficking. The groups are also involved in the importation, production and/or distribution of a variety of illicit drugs, including heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, marihuana and ecstasy. Like other sophisticated organized crime groups, some AOC groups launder profits from criminal activities and also reinvest in other activities such as loan-sharking, the export of stolen luxury vehicles, real estate/financing frauds and payment card frauds.

Some AOC groups exert considerable criminal influence, displaying dominance in a number of criminal activities. For example, in Alberta, AOC groups dominate the majority of street-level cocaine trafficking in urban centres and control a significant portion of marihuana grow operations in southern Alberta and a significant number in the north of the province.

Across the country, Vietnamese-based groups remain extensively involved in multiple residential marihuana grow operations with distribution within Canada and to the U.S. These operations are widespread throughout the B.C. Lower Mainland, Alberta and southern Ontario and will continue to increase in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec and Atlantic Canada. Profits from marihuana cultivation are often reinvested in other criminal activities, such as in the importation of ecstasy and cocaine. Marihuana cultivation continues to affect Canadians’ health and safety, often resulting in toxic moulds, condemned grow houses, fire hazards and chemical vapours from pesticides. Additionally, individuals involved in marihuana cultivation often experience violence through home invasions, assaults and booby-trap-related injuries.

AOC in the B.C. Lower Mainland is involved in the large-scale importation and distribution of counterfeit tobacco and consumer goods, in particular, movies and music recordings as well as Asian-made, Canadian-brand tobacco. The operations are often highly sophisticated. For example, a seizure of counterfeit cigarettes had fraudulent packaging, including Health Canada warnings and B.C. duty-paid strips, indicating that the cigarettes were destined for that provincial market. Counterfeit goods have significant economic and social effects in Canada, undermining government tax revenue and legitimate industries, resulting in lost sales, jobs and investment, as well as posing potential health and safety risks.

AOC groups in B.C., Alberta and Ontario will continue to be involved in importing and trafficking methamphetamine precursors, manufacturing and trafficking methamphetamine. Depending on market demand domestically and in the U.S., there may be conflict with other criminal groups also interested in manufacturing and/or trafficking methamphetamine. Methamphetamine poses a public safety risk as it is highly addictive and physically destructive. Fires and explosions have occurred at methamphetamine production sites and the chemicals involved in the manufacturing process are often criminally discarded, creating toxic and environmentally damaging spills.

AOC groups continue to be involved in smuggling/trafficking people,² particularly women from southeast Asia, to Canada and the U.S. In a Calgarybased operation, individuals involved in massage parlours were targeted for arranging the transportation of women from Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam to Canada. Once in Canada, the women were forced into a prostitution circuit that included Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton to pay off smuggling debts typically worth tens of thousands of dollars. There are significant socio-economic repercussions as a number of women trafficked into Canada are forced into the sex trade.

Outlook

AOC will continue to pose a major threat in Canada through its multiple, sophisticated criminal activities, its significant criminal influence in many areas across the country and its supply of illicit drugs to other organized crime groups.
AOC will continue to pose a public safety threat through its involvement in the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine, importation of counterfeit goods, involvement in marihuana grow operations and intent to dominate drug trafficking in many urban regions nationally, often through violence.

² Human smuggling involves procuring (typically for profit) the illegal entry of a person into a country of which that person is not a national, typically across borders. In contrast, human trafficking involves the movement of people (within or across borders) by means of force, coercion or deception and results in their exploitation through forced labour, forced prostitution or other forms of servitude.