23-04-2012, 11:49 AM
Project SPAWN
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Executive Summary
In the past few years, incidents of organized crime
involvement in large drug seizures at major Canadian
international airports have garnered much public attention
and brought to the forefront issues of criminal activity
within the airport environment. As a result, the RCMP,
in partnership with other stakeholders, has undertaken
an assessment of criminal activity and organized crime
infi ltration at Canada’s Class 1 airports.
Th is project began in January 2007 and provides
a strategic overview of the issue based on qualitative
and quantitative data from eight airports – Vancouver,
Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa,
Montreal (Trudeau) and Halifax.
A total of 1,334 law enforcement fi les dated between
January 2005 and August 2007 were collected and
examined, however this is not an exhaustive total of
all the law enforcement fi les generated during this time
period. Various criteria were used to produce a list of the
most relevant fi les. For all eight airports, a list of general
criteria was used to determine relevance (Appendix A).
Based on these criteria, a total of 793 law enforcement
fi les were included in this assessment.
In these 793 law enforcement fi les, there were 1,326
individuals identifi ed. Of these 1,326 people, 298 of
them were identifi ed as airport employees, while the
remaining 1,028 do not work in the airport environment
but were utilizing or infi ltrating the airports to facilitate
criminal activity.
Th e aforementioned law enforcement fi les indicate
organized crime is clearly present at Canada’s Class 1
international airports. Th e facilities are susceptible to
criminal exploitation and infi ltration, particularly at the
major international airports that receive frequent fl ights
from either source or transit countries for various types
of contraband.
A Strategic Assessment of Criminal Activity and Organized
Crime Infiltration at Canada’s Class 1 Airports
Unclassifi ed
Criminal Intelligence
3
• Th ere were 298 current and former employees at the
eight Class 1 international airports who were identifi ed
in the law enforcement fi les reviewed. It is important
to note that as of November 2007, a total of 88,389
employees working at those eight airports had access
to secure areas.
• As of August 2007, the majority of the airport
employees included in this assessment were still
believed to be working at one of the eight Class 1
international airports.
• A small number of current airport employees were
known to have a criminal record, a few cases involved
drugs. Eight employees had been charged, fi ve of
whom were charged with drug-related off ences.
• Th ere were employees involved in criminal activity at
all eight of the airports included in this report.
• Th e airport environment creates an opportunity for
employees to band together to carry out illegal activity
rather than acting at the behest of already-established
organized crime groups. Th is could translate into
an expansion of their operations outside the airport
environment.
• Twenty-seven cases of confi rmed internal conspiracy
and 62 cases of suspected internal conspiracy are
included in this report. Th e vast majority of these cases
are drug-related.
• In some cases, the interior of the aircraft was tampered
with in order to conceal the drugs, causing potential
safety risks for unsuspecting passengers.
• Increased passenger and cargo traffi c at Canada’s Class
1 airports from known source or transit countries
for illicit contraband may provide greater smuggling
opportunities.
• Improvements are required in relation to inter-agency
cooperation. Greater intelligence-sharing and joint
investigation, such as those used in Project COLISÉE,
demonstrate the success that can be achieved through
targeted law enforcement eff orts at Class 1 airports.
Project SPAWN
Unclassifi ed
Criminal Intelligence
4
Introduction
Th e purpose of this project, which began in January
2007, was to provide a national strategic assessment1
of the scope of criminal activity and organized crime
infi ltration at eight Canadian Class 1 international
airports – Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg,
Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal (Trudeau) and Halifax.2
While there have been several reports3 written on this
subject in recent years by various stakeholders, this
assessment provides a strategic overview of the issue
based on qualitative and quantitative data compiled from
law enforcement fi les and partner agencies.
Th is assesment should provide a basis for more eff ective
prevention and enforcement action, including through
enhanced inter-agency cooperation.
Methodology
Th is project was an RCMP-led eff ort with cross-agency
participation from law enforcement and government. At
each of the eight airports, Criminal Intelligence made
initial presentations on the project plan to all partner
agencies and relevant investigative units to seek their
participation.
Th is strategic assessment is based on interviews and onsite
visits with partner agencies, investigative units and law
enforcement. Data was either provided to investigators
by the RCMP and other law enforcement or was found
through database searches.
A total of 1,334 law enforcement fi les dated between
January 2005 and August 2007 were collected and
examined, however this is not an exhaustive total of
all the law enforcement fi les generated during this time
period. Various criteria were used to produce a list of the
most relevant fi les. For all eight airports, a list of general
criteria was used to determine relevance (Appendix A).
Based on these criteria, a total of 793 law enforcement
fi les were included in this assessment.
In these 793 law enforcement fi les, there were 1,326
individuals identifi ed. Of these 1,326 people, 298 of them
were identifi ed as airport employees, while the remaining
1,028 did not work in the airport environment but were
utilizing or infi ltrating the airports to facilitate criminal
activity.
Project SPAWN
1 An overview of the scope and dimension of criminal activity, used to assist in policy development and priority setting.
2 Th ere are nine Class 1 airports designated under the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority Act. However, this assessment does not
include Montreal-Mirabel, which since 2004 has only operated cargo fl ight services and is inactive for passenger travel. Th is assessment
focuses on Class 1 airports with both passenger and cargo traffi c.
3 Th e 2007 Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defense; Th e Auditor General report to the House of Commons, March
2004; Th e Independent Review of Airport Security and Policing for the Government of Australia (Th e Wheeler Report), September 2005.
Totals
Files Collected 1,334
Files Retained 793
Individuals Identifi ed in Files 1,326
Airport Employees in Files 298
Individuals Involved in Criminal Activity
(not Airport Employees) 1,028
Table 1: Breakdown of Files in Project SPAWN
Th e project’s main focus is organized crime infi ltration
and airport criminality, excluding incidents related to
terrorism.
Th is report is divided into three main sections. Th e fi rst
section discusses organized crime groups4 that utilized
and infi ltrated the airports, while the second deals with
airport employees involved in criminality – including
internal conspiracies. Th e fi nal section highlights other
trends of interest.
Unclassifi ed
Criminal Intelligence
5
Project SPAWN
For the purposes of this report, a link is defi ned as
an association between two or more individuals, or an
individual and a known criminal entity, such as a business
that is controlled by organized crime. Th e nature of the
link could be family, friendship or a business relationship.
It was not always clear from the data if the relationship
was criminal.
Challenges
It was diffi cult to fairly compare the level of criminality
at one airport with another due to signifi cant diff erences
in the amount of data made available to this project for
each airport.
Limitations imposed under Section 107 of the Customs
Act prevented Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)
from providing names of individuals involved in
incidents. Although all statistics on CBSA drug seizures
are provided to the RCMP at the time of the interdiction,
some were not available to the project. Th is report is based
on the police fi les to which the project team had access,
which is refl ected in Chart 1. Th e larger number of drug
fi les provided relative to other seizures is due to the fact
the RCMP typically takes possession of drugs seized at
the airport.
Certain information about airport employees that would
have been useful in identifying potential criminality at
the eight Class 1 international airports included in this
report was not provided by Transport Canada. Th is
assessment would have benefi ted from data related to the
percentage of employees with criminal records and the
nature of off ences. For example, identifying employees
with Restricted Area Identifi cation Card (RAIC) access
and a criminal record could have permitted us to establish
potential links with fi les retained for this assessment.