Pubdate: Fri, 06 Oct 2000 Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON) Copyright: 2000, Canoe Limited Partnership. Contact: 333 King St. E., Toronto, Ontario M5A 3X5 Canada Fax: (416) 947-3228 Website: http://www.canoe.ca/TorontoSun/ Forum: http://www.canoe.ca/Chat/newsgroups.html Author: John Schmied PEARSON DRUG BUSTS HIT $10.7M 31 People Arrested In Past 2 1/2 Months MISSISSAUGA -- A man who did "the funky chicken" after a cocaine-filled condom burst in his stomach was among 31 people arrested in the past 10 weeks for smuggling drugs into Pearson airport. Canada Customs agents seized over $10.7- million worth of drugs at the airport and a nearby Canada Post facility over the past 21/2 months. Agents made a total of 162 seizures, including 44.6 kg of cocaine, 772 grams of heroin, 24.4 kg of marijuana, 1,098 kg of khat, 13,820 Ecstasy pills and 671 grams of Ecstasy base. Drug-sniffing dogs, ion-scan and X-ray machines detected drug shipments despite smugglers' attempts to disguise them. COVERED IN AXLE GREASE In one case a smuggler had two 1-kg bricks of cocaine covered in axle grease and wrapped in plastic inside a suitcase. The largest seizure occurred Sept. 2 when 4.6 kg of cocaine worth $920,000 on the street was found hidden inside suitcases carried by a Quebec couple. A 28-year-old Whitby man travelling with a 27-year-old Oshawa woman from Jamaica on Aug. 13 were singled out for inspection when the man displayed signs of drug packets bursting inside his body. "We call it doing 'the funky chicken' because of their increasingly frenetic body movements," said customs spokesman Duncan Smith. Agents offered to call for medical attention, which the man repeatedly refused, but they insisted and the decision ended up saving the man's life. 'DIED A COUPLE OF TIMES' "The guy died a couple of times, he was in extremely grave condition before being revived at Etobicoke hospital," said Smith. The man had ingested 360 grams of cocaine worth $74,000, while his companion had swallowed 100 grams of hashish and inserted one kilogram of cocaine in her vagina. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart