Pubdate: Wed, 30 Oct 2002
Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB)
Copyright: 2002 Calgary Herald
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66
Author: Emma Poole, Calgary Herald
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)

CALGARY ECSTASY BUST SETS RECORD

$52.5m Haul Found In Pianos

RCMP drug investigators in Calgary and Vancouver are working with Interpol 
to determine the origin of 120 kilograms of ecstasy powder intercepted at 
Calgary International Airport in what is believed to be the largest 
shipment of ecstasy ever seized in Canada.

The $52.5 million in powdered ecstasy, which could have produced more than 
1.5 million pills, was found inside three pianos aboard a scheduled flight 
bound for Calgary from Frankfurt, Germany.

"The investigation is continuing in Germany to see who was involved there," 
said Calgary RCMP Cpl. Patrick Webb. "Not too many people do this type of 
thing on their own. It was done by an organized group."

Officers with Canada Customs and Revenue intercepted 120 one-kilogram bags 
of the white powder on Oct. 16 while inspecting cargo from an Air Canada 
flight direct from Frankfurt.

The drugs -- which were sealed in freezer bags, masked with purple and 
black carbon paper and then covered with plastic wrap -- were stacked in 
the back of three high-end German Schimmel pianos.

Customs officers were suspicious because the backs of the $20,000 pianos 
were covered with plywood.

"Once they removed the backs, they saw drugs were stacked in the ribs of 
the piano," said Webb.

Commercial customs officers, who also search truck, courier and rail cargo, 
randomly chose to search the freight before it was loaded onto a plane and 
shipped to Vancouver.

"Things just didn't look right with the piano," said Supt. Suzanne 
Thrasher. "The officers just wanted to go a little bit further."

RCMP drug experts were called in to test the powder, which turned out to be 
the powdered form of ecstasy.

The pure form of ecstasy, known as methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), is 
a hallucinogenic amphetamine. As a powder, it can be inhaled or injected. 
It can be diluted in water and sprayed in the eyes or absorbed in the skin.

According to local drug squad officers, only a small portion of what is 
sold as ecstasy is pure. Most is cut with other, illegal substances such as 
LSD.

The drugs from the Calgary bust were removed from the pianos and a 
"controlled delivery" was orchestrated by investigators in Vancouver.

Police arrested a B.C. man who claimed the cargo from customs officials in 
Vancouver upon arrival.

Kwong Yuen Chow, 40, of Richmond, is to appear in Calgary provincial court 
today. He has been charged with importation and possession for the purposes 
of trafficking.

This isn't the first time a form of ecstasy has been seized at the airport 
in Calgary.

In July 2000, a tip from Germany helped customs officials discover more 
than 5,600 ecstasy pills in pantyhose worn by a male passenger from Frankfurt.

Mounties say the latest interception has made a huge dent in the ecstasy 
trade in the country, but acknowledge millions of dollars' worth of the 
drug are being produced every day.

"It will have a significant effect on wherever it was destined for," said 
Webb, "but whenever you arrest someone, someone else moves up and takes 
their place."
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D