Pubdate: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 Source: Globe and Mail (Canada) Copyright: 2002, The Globe and Mail Company Contact: http://www.globeandmail.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168 Page: A10 Author: Dawn Walton Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy) POLICE IN CALGARY MAKE BIG ECSTASY BUST CALGARY -- Describing it as one of the largest drug busts in Canadian history, law-enforcement officials in Calgary announced yesterday the seizure of 120 kilograms of ecstasy powder that had been stashed in three upright pianos. The powder could have made more than 1.5 million euphoria-inducing pills worth an estimated $52.5-million on the street, RCMP Corporal Patrick Webb said. Forty-year-old Kwong Yuen Chow of Richmond, B.C., has been charged with importation and possession for the purposes of trafficking. Police continue their investigation and more charges are likely, Cpl. Webb said. Canada Customs and Revenue Agency commercial-goods inspectors discovered the drug on Oct. 16, when the pianos, shipped from Frankfurt, Germany, arrived at Calgary International Airport. The instruments were bound for Vancouver but were sent through customs in Calgary, where inspectors said "they just didn't look right," Customs spokesman Gordon Luchia said. Tucked inside the pianos were 120 individually wrapped one-kilogram bags of the powder. "Somebody went to a lot of work," Cpl. Webb said. Officials called it the largest interception of illegal drugs in southern Alberta, perhaps in Canada. Until now, the largest drug seizure in southern Alberta had been two years ago, when $12-million worth of cocaine was intercepted, Mr. Luchia said. Last week, a Toronto man was charged with conspiracy after law-enforcement agents found 50 one-kilogram packages of cocaine hidden in an upright piano bound for Canada from Peru. The cocaine was found in Miami. The cocaine could have been worth several million dollars on the street, a police spokesperson said. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom