CANADA DESIRES MOVE FORWARD ON 2006 DRUG THREAT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 002372 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS PLEASES PASS TO DEPT FOR INL FOR ROBERT E. BROWN ONDCP FOR RICHARD BAUM E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SNAR CA SUBJECT: CANADA DESIRES MOVE FORWARD ON 2006 DRUG THREAT ASSESSMENT REF: A. (A) SECSTATE 78495 ¶B. (B) SECSTATE 67585 This cable is Sensitive But Unclassified. Note request in Para. 2. ¶1. (U) Summary: In a series of recent meetings, Poloff discussed the USG inter-agency FY 2007 certification procedures (reftel A) and related methamphetamine production issues (reftel B) with Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade's (DFAIT) Deputy Director for International Crime and Terrorism Jennifer Irish and Policy Advisor Mark Richardson. Irish stated GOC intentions to revise the 2004 US-Canada Border Drug Threat Assessment by the end of 2006, highlighted continuing U.S./Canadian cooperation on cross-border intelligence sharing as continuing evidence of Canada's commitment to tackling the drug problem and noted Canada's work toward voluntary reporting of legitimate pre-cursor chemical usage. End Summary. -------------- --- Canada To Revise the 2004 Drug Threat Assessment -------------- --- ¶2. (SBU) Having begun discussions about revising the 2004 Drug Threat Assessment during her April trip to Washington, Irish restated Canada's commitment to updating the document this year. DFAIT will coordinate an inter-agency process to produce a drug-focused report separate from the Organized Crime Threat Assessment that is being written under the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). Work on the Drug Threat Assessment update is beginning this summer. While acknowledging the importance of a narcotics segment in the Organized Crime Threat Assessment, Irish emphasized that it should not substitute for an updated Drug Threat Assessment. She pointed to the inherent value of the inter-agency Canadian process as well as that of working with INL counterparts to produce the 2004 Assessment as justification for the 2006 update. Canada prefers that the scope remain broad, echoing the last report, and requests Washington's feedback concerning administration of the project, particularly who will be responsible for coordinating the two countries' drafts. (NOTE: In 2004, it was Canada's responsibility, although there was no formal understanding whether this job would rotate. END NOTE) REQUEST: Post requests the name of the INL person who will be the point of contact for this project. END REQUEST. -------------- Canada Takes Aim at Pre-Cursors and MDMA -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Cross border cooperation, including persistent and fluid intelligence sharing between the RCMP and DEA, continues to produce seizures of illicit drugs, including those derived from synthetics, as well as associated illegal unreported currency both inland and at the American-Canadian border. In April, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Sumas, Washington were alerted to an individual entering the U.S. from Canada transporting 11.65 kilos of Ecstasy. The following month, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) arrested a Canadian citizen traveling from Vancouver to San Francisco with 65.8 kilos of MDMA powder, 77.3 kilos of marijuana, 7.5 kilos of MDMA tablets and 10.6 kilos of Valium tablets. The RCMP has expanded its investigative clandestine lab groups that work in major cities and requested training from U.S. authorities on clan lab handling and cleanup. ¶4. (SBU) In addition to cooperative cross-border activity, Canadian law enforcement continues to be active domestically, QCanadian law enforcement continues to be active domestically, making several large chemical precursor, meth and MDMA seizures that showed no explicit indication of targeting the U.S. market. In April at the Vancouver sea port, the Canada Border Security Agency (CBSA) seized 6,000 kilos of MDP2P and 1,000 kilos of ephedrine from a shipping container originating in China. Like the U.S., Canada is experiencing an easterly creep of its chemical drug problem and associated underground laboratories, many of which are run by Asian groups and Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMGs). Evidence of this trend is found in a March raid in Toronto and a June bust in a tourist area of southwestern Ontario. In March 2006, Canadian law enforcement made the first-ever seizure of an "addiction" (for personal use) methamphetamine lab in Toronto. The two U.S. citizen suspects had rented a hotel room and acquired the requisite chemicals. The lab was not yet operational and no finished product was seized. In June, OTTAWA 00002372 002 OF 002 authorities seized the largest methamphetamine lab in Ontario's history, netting 35 kilos of methamphetamine and 25 kilos of ephedrine. One Canadian and one Mexican citizen were arrested, raising concerns about an increasing number of meth "production" (for distribution and sale purposes) facilities in Canada. -------------- -------------- Voluntary Reporting of Legitimate Precursor Use -- Not Yet -------------- -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Richardson stated that, subsequent to Canada's co-sponsorship of the CND resolution urging reporting of legitimate use of pre-cursor chemicals, Health Canada is the competent authority responsible for implementing a systematic annual reporting scheme. Noting that the INCB had not yet made any requests for estimates of certain precursor chemicals for legitimate requirements, he indicated that Health Canada's Office of Controlled Substances plans to have a tracking and reporting system in place by years' end that will systematize an ongoing yearly submission of this type of material. Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa WILKINS