Pubdate: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 Source: Globe and Mail (Canada) Copyright: 2000, The Globe and Mail Company Contact: http://www.globeandmail.ca/ Forum: http://forums.theglobeandmail.com/ THE FREDERICTON CONNECTION You don't often find a country so happy to see one of its citizens returning from abroad that it will shower the lucky soul with gifts. When a Fredericton woman arrived home from Florida and unpacked her luggage, she found a plastic bag of marijuana nestled at the bottom, with a tag identifying the previous owner as Revenue Canada, since folded into the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency. What fleeting thoughts must have scampered through her mind? "If they'd asked, I'd have preferred the Walkman." Or even: "Did they mix up my luggage with Stockwell Day's?" Another recipient might have accepted the gift with equanimity -- a few too many stalks and seeds, but it's the thought that counts -- but no, this honest citizen figured something was amiss and handed it over to the police, who returned it to Canada Customs. And, says the Canadian Press account, it turned out the agency had planted the drug in her bag as she landed at the Moncton airport, as part of an exercise to train its drug-sniffing dogs. The woman is not amused, feels her privacy has been violated and may consult a lawyer. Fair enough; a customs official says somebody went way too far. But if she won't accept that gift, might she consider offering sanctuary to the other victim in this story -- some poor drug-sniffing mutt whose career evaporated on that day when a Fredericton woman carrying a bag of marijuana walked clean by him at the Moncton airport? - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D