The Vancouver Sun didn't endear itself to some Indo-Canadians yesterday when it ran a photograph of Sikhism's holiest shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, in a story about a global drug-smuggling ring.

The article focused on Operation Paragon, a 14-month police investigation into a crime group allegedly headed by Vancouver resident Yong Long Ye.

Police claim that his group imported heroin from India through Pakistan, and then moved it to markets in Australia. Profits were sent from there to China, and moved back to Vancouver.

The Vancouver Sun published pictures to show various parts of the world, including the Sydney Opera House and the Great Wall of China.

However, it was the paper's decision to publish a photo of the Golden Temple to highlight the Indian connection to an organized-crime ring that caused local Sikhs to wonder about the paper's sensitivity.

Today, the Vancouver Sun published a "Setting it Straight" item on page A2: "The use of a photograph of the Golden Temple in a graphic illustrating an international drug ring, which appeared in The Vancouver Sun Dec. 13 on page B3, was not intended to suggest that the temple was involved in the drug ring."