Lethal Exports: Why Canada is a ‘global refuge’ for Hells Angels, other crime networks
Unfettered access to chemicals used to make illicit drugs turned B.C. into a major exporter of both homemade methamphetamine and fentanyl. The Hells Angels, United Nations gang, Asian syndicates and Mexican cartels work together and leave a trail of destruction around the world. The conclusion of our five-part investigative series.
https://vancouversun.com/feature/lethal-exports-canada-global-refuge-hells-angels-crime-networks
Almost eight tonnes of methamphetamine were seized by Canadian border agents in the Pacific Region last year — nearly four times all the illicit meth seizures combined from 2018 to 2022.
Despite the record finds by the Canada Border Services Agency, no one has been charged in B.C. for any of the massive loads, which were mostly destined for Australia and New Zealand and linked to transnational organized crime.
Critics say the lack of consequences is just one of the reasons B.C. — and Canada — has become a safe place to do business for some of the biggest international criminals.
Postmedia spent three months investigating the transnational links of Canada’s most notorious criminals.
The investigation found that kingpins connected to the Hells Angels, the United Nations gang, the Sam Gor syndicate, the Sinaloa cartel and Middle Eastern crime groups are working together internationally to smuggle supersized loads of methamphetamine and cocaine into Oceania through the South Pacific, leaving a trail of devastation.
Some of the big operators are now based outside of Canada for fear of becoming targets in the 20-year-old B.C. gang war they helped start, and, of course, to evade law enforcement.
But they continue to use Canada to produce an array of deadly synthetic drugs and the Port of Vancouver to export or transship them.
Delta Mayor George Harvie has been raising the alarm for months about the presence of organized crime at the port’s largest container facility in his city — something Postmedia has reported on extensively in the past.
He hired Peter German, a consultant, lawyer and retired RCMP deputy commissioner, to prepare a report about the current state of security at the port 26 years after Port Canada Police was disbanded by Ottawa.
German’s conclusions about the port were blunt: it’s infiltrated by organized crime, there are few criminal investigations in most large drug seizures, and there is inadequate or non-existent security clearance for tens of thousands of port workers.
“These findings underscore the pressing need for change lest we allow a relentless flow of contraband into Canada by sea, and, in parallel, enable the outbound trafficking of domestically manufactured drugs to foreign shores,” he and co-author Doug LePard, a former Vancouver Police deputy chief, wrote.
Their key recommendation was to bring back some form of uniformed port police force.
Over the last four months, Harvie has tried to get the federal government to talk about the serious issues raised.
He sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on behalf of the Metro Vancouver Board, which he chairs. He didn’t get an answer. Some federal cabinet ministers he spoke to didn’t know there was no longer a port police force, he told Postmedia.
“We need to get the federal government to wake up and realize what’s happening.”
Harvie is proposing a small levy, $10 to $15 per container, to cover the cost of a new police force without burdening taxpayers.
Given all those who’ve died in B.C.’s toxic drug crisis, fuelled by smuggled fentanyl and the precursors to make it, Harvie doesn’t understand the inaction.
“If they want to do something about the fentanyl crisis, we have to stop having an open border for it,” he said.
Port authority ‘concerned with security … not concerned with policing’
German told Postmedia having police on the ground inside the cordoned-off port facilities would definitely have an impact in Metro Vancouver, based on the research he did in the U.S.
The port police in Seattle “know everybody in the port, they deal very well with the longshore union. They even mediate disputes sometimes. They know who’s who. They can spot what’s unusual,” he said. “And the FBI was very clear with us that the first place they go for any maritime crime that they’re investigating under federal jurisdiction is to the port police.”
But German also believes an existing, but under-resourced, B.C. policing team called Waterfront Joint Forces Operation should be properly funded with a renewed focus on national security and organized crime at the port.
“We found that the waterfront JFO still exists, but they’re actually located at the airport. So they’re not really located in the seaport and most of their work involves the airport,” he said.
The specialized RCMP-led team, which includes municipal officers, has not been mentioned in an RCMP news release since 2017. But the Port of Vancouver still lists it as a “partner” on its website, while also stating that “at the end of 2015, Vancouver Fraser Port Authority discontinued its financial contribution to the … organization intended to fight crime on the waterfront.”
German said the port authority “is concerned with security. They’re not concerned with policing.”
That security includes physical barriers, cameras and other measures to prevent outsiders from accessing port sites across Metro Vancouver, he said. But that doesn’t stop criminal activity from occurring inside.
“And that is blatantly obvious when you realize that you’ve got about 30,000 people working in our port, but only a fraction of those require a security clearance, and a pretty minimal security clearance,” he said, citing a 2015 Postmedia series that identified dozens of Hells Angels and others with links to the drug trade who were working at the port
Drugs seized but not always investigated
Currently, after CBSA agents find hidden cargo like methamphetamine and cocaine, the RCMP’s federal serious and organization crime section is contacted as the investigative agency.
The Mounties then decide if they “have the resources, the time or the money” to follow up, German said. “It was pretty clear to us that the majority of times, it’s no.”
And while the drugs are off the street, the record shows “a no-case seizure. In other words, there’s no investigative file opened on it. … And that’s just not acceptable. We have to be able to follow those leads.”
RCMP Supt. Bert Ferreira, of the federal serious and organization crime section, recently told Postmedia that there were investigations going on into the tonnes of outbound methamphetamine seized at Deltaport last year.
“I am not going to comment on an active investigation. But what I can say is that we are engaged with our international partners almost on a daily basis. Australians are no exception. If they intercept the load and they need our help, we help. If we intercept the load that’s going their way, then we’re in touch with them and see if we can do a joint investigation. That’s standard — our daily bread and butter.”
CBSA vice-president Aaron McCrorie said that disruption and interdiction is an important part of the agency’s work, whether or not there are charges.
“Every seizure we make has the potential to lead to other seizures or other impacts, either domestically or internationally,” he told Postmedia.
“I think we’ve had some good success over the last year. But we are dealing with an adversary that’s constantly changing. And I think you know Canada as a market, a source and a transshipment point, really speaks to some of the challenges we face in terms of interdicting illegal drugs.”
And he said that just because charges haven’t come yet, “major cases take time and energy. So there may not be an immediate follow up.”
“Keeping a kilogram of meth off the street, keeping even 10 tablets of opioids off the street, makes a difference. It saves people’s lives,” McCrorie said.
And he said the CBSA is just as concerned about drugs leaving Canada for other jurisdictions as it is about those coming into the country.
“We care as much about protecting their citizens as we do about protecting ours.”
Why other agencies may be wary of sharing intel with Canada
Ask any organized crime expert or investigator what one of the main obstacles is to prosecuting international criminals in Canada and you will hear the same word: Stinchcombe.
“A lot of it is tied up with other systemic problems like Stinchcombe,” German said.
Stinchcombe is a 1991 Supreme Court of Canada decision that laid out strict rules requiring a prosecutor to disclose all relevant material to a defendant, even if there’s no intention of using it as evidence at trial. To do otherwise would violate the Charter rights of the accused.
But for police, targeting transnational organized crime involves receiving and sharing intelligence with trusted international agencies, particularly the Five Eyes intelligence-gathering alliance of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the U.S. and the U.K.
Those countries have different legislation around disclosure, so may be wary about their sensitive information potentially being released in a Canadian prosecution.
“From a law enforcement perspective, everybody gets along really well. And they realize what Canada is dealing with, what Canadian law enforcement is dealing with, so often times decisions internationally will be made on that basis alone,” German said.
Decisions, for example, to prosecute Canadians in other jurisdictions if crimes have been committed both at home and abroad.
Cal Chrustie, a retired RCMP superintendent and security expert, wrote a recent report for the International Coalition Against Illicit Economies that said, “Canada has become a major global refuge for transnational crime networks and their dirty money, including the world’s most notorious networks.”
Chrustie and Coalition founder David Luna, a former U.S. diplomat and national security official, called for urgent action to address what they call “illicit trade vectors emanating from within Canada and externally.”
“Such threats have raised heightened awareness among public safety, security and intelligence communities on domestic and foreign illicit activities within Canada, including transnational organized crime and other foreign malign influence activities,” the report said.
Chrustie also told Postmedia that some legislation should be amended so Canada can work effectively with international partners on organized crime and national security threats.
“Unless you include the legislative changes for foreign threats — you have to look at Stinchcombe, you have to look at other changes … we can’t expect a significant change in terms of the implications for national security,” he said. “The Canada Evidence Act needs to be modified to give somebody within the police the legal authority to protect international information.”
Chrustie also thinks spending on technological improvements at the Port of Vancouver would boost security and the ability to detect illicit cargo.
Based on his extensive experience working on international investigations, Chrustie said Mounties stationed overseas should be where the action is rather than in the capital cities of other countries.
“That’s part of the recommendations in that report is to move away from the strategic policy centres and create operational centres where people are having conversations over coffee, rather than sending telexes and bulletins,” he said.
RCMP Chief Supt. Mathieu Bertrand, head of the federal serious and organized crime, said police are raising some of the same concerns about the need for new legislation as those on the outside looking in.
That lobbying is done through the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, he said. “They can interact with government directly, they can talk about maybe some legislative or regulatory challenges, whether it be in the connected chemical industry, or maybe within recent case law that does hamper police investigations into some of those these most serious crime groups.”
And he said the challenges Canada faces tackling transnational organized crime groups are not unique. Nor does he think we’re a “soft spot” from which the worst criminals can operate.
“I would say that there are challenges to policing and law enforcement in Canada. But I’ll repeat myself, I don’t think we are unique in being faced with that situation. You know, we hear from other developed countries with significant expertise in the national federal police forces. They’re facing the same challenges.”
How Canada evolved into becoming a major exporter of both homemade methamphetamine and fentanyl is complex, Bertrand said.
“There are many push and pull factors that are contributing to the fact that we are now a significant source country.”
While methamphetamine, as the Postmedia investigation found, is primarily destined for the lucrative markets of Australia and New Zealand, fentanyl is being exported elsewhere, he confirmed.
“There are other countries around the world that are receiving fentanyl production from Canada. So we’re working with those countries. We have to be nimble and adjust,” Bertrand said.
“We’ve committed to those partners, those law enforcement partners, that we do understand and appreciate that we’re a source country and we are going to prioritize these files to make sure that we can get rid of that title as quickly as possible.”
The curse of precursor chemicals
Canada has a ready supply of precursor chemicals for making drugs, the vast majority of which are completely unregulated.
“Ninety per cent of the chemicals that are used in the synthetic drug production are not regulated and the reason is because they’re so widely used in every other industry — plastics and petroleum,” Staff Sgt. Derek Westwick, of B.C.’s Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement and Response team, told Postmedia.
“If we were to put such rigid controls on that, I would assume that we would have an impact on our GDP nationally.”
Importers of regulated chemicals obtain a licence through Health Canada and have to report their sales records to the agency, Westwick said.
But neither the importers nor Health Canada provide any of that information to police because of privacy laws.
“No doubt there may be nefarious people who have exploited and bought said commodity from a legitimate company that I will never know. Even if I’m running an investigation, I may not know that they’re buying it because Health Canada cannot share that information with law enforcement,” Westwick said.
Bertrand said, “Health Canada is likely in a difficult situation that they wouldn’t want to be sharing information on companies that are importing chemicals that are being used as they should be.”
Instead, police are attempting to work directly with the chemical companies that are producing or importing precursor chemicals used by organized crime to make illegal synthetics.
“What we want to do is re-engage with them, inform them about the list of chemicals that are of concern, maybe some practices by organized crime groups that should be of concern, and encourage them to make referrals to law enforcement,” Bertrand said.
The goal is to “increase the amount of labs that we’re aware of and we can take down.”
He said industry is generally very cooperative.
“There’s a willingness — I want that to be clear — within the private sector. They understand and appreciate how significant this opioid crisis is. They do not want to be part of the reason why people are dying on a daily basis,” he said.
More than 3,000 crime groups in Canada
According to the Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada’s latest report on organized crime, there are more than 3,000 crime groups in the country, with 647 of them dangerous enough to warrant a threat rating. Fourteen unnamed groups are at the highest threat level.
The report, released in the fall of 2022, notes that Canadian organized crime groups of “various threat levels are expanding their geographic scope” with links to 52 countries.
Bertrand said “some of the most notorious international crime groups do see Canada as an area where they can operate and either use as a transit point or an area where they can produce synthetic drugs, unfortunately.”
“These organized crime groups are making a lot of money, these are significant in size and their wealth. They can adjust how they operate very quickly and very rapidly. They don’t have to abide by bureaucratic rules or laws,” Bertrand said.
If they think they can get their precursors or if they think the police are focusing in one specific area on precursors, they’ll adjust and they’ll source their precursors from different countries.”
Lessons in chemistry: Scientists analyze while the ‘cooks’ adapt
YDNEY — It’s a global game of chemical cat and mouse.
Scientists, including Natasha Stojanovska of the Australian Federal Police, analyze the illicit methamphetamine making its way into Australia from around the globe — increasingly from Canada.
The goal, in part, is to determine what precursor chemicals are being used to make the two forms of meth — one that’s ephedrine- or pseudoephedrine-based and the other known as the P2P formula — dubbed Breaking Bad meth after the popular American TV show.
When new chemicals are detected, governments can take steps to add them to lists of banned or restricted precursors or even pre-precursors.
But the transnational criminal organizations also have top-notch chemists who are constantly adapting their recipe to make their meth with whatever ingredients they can get.
“As soon as we regulate something and control something, there’s always something else that pops up on the horizon because they need a solution for whatever they’re intending to make,” Stojanovska said recently.
Thomas Pietschmann, a researcher with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said organized crime groups are always modifying when there’s a clampdown on precursor chemicals.
“Those chemists are extremely good and always identify new ones (chemicals) to replace them,” he said from Vienna.
Australians are the world’s heaviest methamphetamine users and they also pay more for it than almost anywhere else on the planet. So the country is a key target for international criminals.
Methamphetamine from southeast Asian countries generally uses the ephedrine recipe and is considered the preferred drug by buyers. But the P2P formula, which was developed by Mexican cartels, has improved considerably.
Stojanovska said methamphetamine comes in two forms — known as d-meth and l-meth.
“The d-meth is really the one that people want because it has the most pharmacological effects. And during the production, the pseudoephedrine- and ephedrine-based methods, they produce a higher portion of that d-meth.”
Now the P2P “cooks” have figured out a processing method to end up with d-meth.
“It’s a little bit of extra work, but I think now that the criminal groups that are manufacturing it know about … the different effects of the different types of meth isomers. So they’re actually actively producing, and essentially clarifying the end product to produce that d-meth,” said Stojanovska, who has a PhD on synthesizing and analyzing amphetamine-type drugs.
ike the meth, the formulas to make it have crossed borders, too.
“It’s important to note that with the substances such as methamphetamine, they are synthetic in makeup. They are basically synthesized from various starting materials, and we can’t pinpoint an exact origin for these substances,” Stojanovska said. “It really is a matter of having the certain chemicals and equipment required and anyone in the world can really produce it.”
Pietschmann said that methamphetamine produced in Canada has traditionally been the ephedrine-based method, suggesting that P2P meth smuggled out of Vancouver and seized in Australia and New Zealand was likely produced in Mexico.
But he said it’s impossible to know for sure, as the transnational organized crime groups move operations when necessary.
Stojanovska said there’s intelligence that both manufacturing methods are now being used in Canada.
“In the last five years, since about 2018 to present, meth seizures transshipped from Canada to Australia have predominantly been from P2P methods.”
The P2P formula is no longer an automatic marker of Mexican meth, she said.
“We do see those same methods being applied elsewhere.”
She cautioned that the seized meth analyzed by her agency is only a “snapshot” as many large seizures are made offshore or in other jurisdictions, though destined for the Australian market.
“In that case, they won’t be profiled. So we won’t really know what methods and what starting materials were used, what precursors were used. Some (loads) are even lost in transit out at sea,” she said.
But there’s nothing stopping meth makers from sharing their expertise with others in the business.
“There are different methods that people can learn and can apply, depending on where they’re being taught. And they can take that anywhere in the world. A Mexican ‘cook’ can come over to Canada and start these methods that they’ve been doing in Mexico for the past however many years,” she said.
Pietschmann said there have been the stories about Mexican “cooks” being employed by organized crime groups in Holland and in Belgium.
“But interestingly, those were kind of on an individual basis contract,” he said. “It was not that the Dutch were contracting the cartels and saying ‘please provide us,’ but they were contracting Mr. X or Y, who was a good cook, and he’s now working for the Dutch.”