Vancouver police take on the gangs after rash of killings
Vancouver police have made stemming gang violence their top priority after four known gang members were shot dead in three separate incidents within a week.
The latest killings came on Tuesday morning, when two gang members were shot dead in their car at the busy intersection of 70th Avenue and Granville Street. The victims' Mercedes was cut off by a pair of sports utility vehicles that forced the men to pull over.
Those in the SUVs then opened fire on the men trapped in the Mercedes. The victims were identified as 25-year-old Ali Abhari and Ronal Shakeel Raj.
'This is another very shocking call. To wake up and turn on your television and radio and find again two people shot dead in the city, it's very unnerving,' said Constable Tim Fanning, who described the city's 19th and 20th homicides of the year as 'absolute madness'.
Deputy police chief Bob Rich said the department was forming a taskforce of senior officers to focus on how to stop the bloodshed.
'It will be a very much in-your-face operation,' Mr Rich said. 'It will be confronting people who are gangsters, who are moving about the streets.'
Of the 20 murders in Vancouver so far this year, 10 have been linked to gang activities. The region's dozen or so active gangs are involved in the lucrative trade of marijuana grown in British Columbia and shipped down to the United States in exchange for cocaine and handguns.
The latest series of killings began at Halloween, when a 51-year-old ethnic Vietnamese man with known links to organised crime was shot dead outside a Vietnamese noodle restaurant on Vancouver's Eastside.
Then last Saturday night, the upscale neighbourhood of Shaughnessy, where many of the city's wealthiest residents live, was the scene of another gangland shooting. Chinese-born gangster Hong Chao Huang, also known as Raymond Hong, was gunned down as he was about to enter his C$5 million (HK$42.7 million) mansion.
His 10-year-old daughter, who was inside the house, phoned the police. Hong, 45, was dead at the scene.
Police say he was believed to have been a leader of the notorious dai huen jai, or Big Circle Boys.
Most recently, the United Nations gang, a newer criminal organisation with members from the Iranian, South Asian and Asian communities, had tried to assert its position in the drug trade, according to police sources.
The level of violence has also changed among rival gang members. The availability of handguns from the United States, traded for marijuana, had led to more fatalities among gang members, another deputy police chief, Doug LePard, said.
While the gangs' activities bring lucrative rewards, with some members earning tens of thousands of dollars a month, Mr LePard said the odds of winding up dead were also high.
At the scene of the latest murder on Tuesday, Mr LePard said the bodies of the two gang members were riddled with bullets.
'Looking at the two young men full of bullet holes, they didn't look glamorous at all,' he said.
Police in Vancouver and surrounding regions say they are concerned that the level of violence could extend to innocent bystanders because of the use of guns.
Three weeks ago, police found six men shot dead inside a Surrey apartment building.
They said one victim was a gas fireplace technician who just happened to be in the building doing repairs, while another was a neighbour who had inadvertently stumbled onto the crime.
Constable Fanning acknowledged the issue was alarming for the public. 'We ask people if they see anybody suspicious or suspicious vehicles in their neighbourhood, don't hesitate to give us a call,' he was quoted as saying by The Globe and Mail newspaper.
