Pubdate: Wed, 22 Mar 2000
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2000 The Toronto Star
Contact:  One Yonge St., Toronto ON, M5E 1E6
Fax: (416) 869-4322
Website: http://www.thestar.com/
Forum: http://www.thestar.com/editorial/disc_board/
Author: Bob Mitchell, Peel/Halton Bureau Chief

MARIJUANA SHIPMENT A BIG BUST

Somewhere, an angry drug dealer is waiting for a delayed marijuana shipment.

He or she is going to have a long wait.

It seems the trailer the dealer is expecting made it all the way from
Mexico to Mississauga without the hidden drug cargo being removed.

Peel Region police say 440 kilograms of marijuana worth about $8.7 million
on the street was discovered in a shipment of Hitachi television sets at a
Mississauga depot Monday.

It's one of the largest shipments of marijuana ever discovered in Peel,
police say.

"We don't believe it was destined for this market but, regardless of where
it was supposed to end up, we've managed to take it off the streets," said
Inspector John Nielsen of Peel's morality squad.

"Somewhere there is a drug dealer who isn't very happy right now."

Police say the TVs were loaded in Mexico and were scheduled to make one
stop, in San Diego, before heading to the Hitachi Canada depot on
Campobello Rd. in Mississauga.

"There would have been other rest stops along the way, but the cargo wasn't
supposed to be unloaded until it reached Mississauga," Nielsen said,
speaking of the televisions.

"But the seal that was taken off the locking pin wasn't the same seal that
was originally put on the cargo, so somewhere along the line the marijuana
was put inside the trailer."

Police say workers unloading the trailer knew something wasn't right
immediately.

"There were 11 cardboard boxes on top of the televisions at the back of the
trailer," Nielsen said. "There was no attempt to hide them. They were
obviously in a place where they could be easily off-loaded."

The marijuana was in compressed bricks weighing two to five kilograms each.
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