Source: Toronto Sun Contact: Wednesday, December 31, 1997 Author: Scot Magnish -- Toronto Sun 97 A HIT FOR DRUG BUSTS It's been a boffo year for drug seizures, customs officials said yesterday. Michel Cleroux of Revenue Canada said inspectors across the country have snapped up $517 million in narcotics in 1997 - $176 million at Pearson International Airport alone. "1997 has been good to us," Cleroux said, boasting customs officers coast to coast made 4,594 individual seizures in the past 12 months. 'BEST YEARS EVER' "As far as seizures go, we're looking at one of our best years ever and a lot of it has to do with smugglers trying to get by us over the Christmas holidays," he said. Cleroux said the icing on the cake for Pearson came Christmas Day when customs officers intercepted two separate shipments of hash oil worth an estimated $41.2 million. UPPED THE VALUE Both seizures were made on flights arriving from Jamaica, he said. In the meantime, Revenue Canada yesterday upped the value of a 43-kilo heroin seizure made Sunday night at Toronto's international airport. Although the RCMP originally pegged the street value of the haul at $16.8 million, customs officials said the drug's purity makes it worth closer to $64 million. Copyright (c) 1997, Canoe Limited Partnership.