But police say that until the Honduran drug ring arrived about three years ago, there was little demand for crack. Vancouverites feared the drug that had ravaged many U.S. cities, peaking in popularity in the mid-1980s. Yet, street-level youth workers, and even one narcotics officer, said it isn't fair to blame Honduran traffickers for introducing crack, saying the drug has been available in Vancouver for at least a decade. They believe the Hondurans simply expanded an existing market. Exactly who is getting rich remains a mystery.
Police believe it's a highly organized drug ring with roots in Honduras.
They apparently targeted Vancouver after being driven out of San Francisco in the early 1990s and Portland in 1996-97. Elton Deans, whose department polices the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby. Two years ago, police from Vancouver and its closest suburbs of Burnaby, New Westminster and Surrey met with Portland officers to get advice about how to drive out the Honduran traffickers. Portland police Lt. Larry Kochever said their effort four years ago was labor-intensive, using undercover officers to infiltrate the Honduran organization.