Pubdate: Fri, 3 Dec 1999
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 1999, The Toronto Star
Section: Page A20
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Author: Bob Mitchell, Peel/Halton Bureau Chief

PEARSON OFFICIALS ON TRACK FOR RECORD DRUG SEIZURES

$30 Million Of Illicit Drugs Seized In Past Two Weeks

Drugs continue to be seized at a record pace at Pearson International
Airport with nearly $30 million worth of illegal narcotics discovered in the
past two weeks.

In the past four days alone, Canada Customs inspectors have seized drugs
with an estimated street value of $16.1 million, including $2.8 million
worth of marijuana that was hidden among leather goods from Ethiopia.

Authorities have accumulated more than $153 million worth of drugs at
Pearson this year, closing in on the record haul of $157 million in 1997.
The Ethiopian drug bust took customs officials by surprise.

"That's an unusual one . . . We haven't seen much marijuana coming from
Ethiopia," said Duncan Smith, a spokesperson for Canada Customs.

"It's not one of the countries known for smuggling marijuana. That probably
indicates it originated somewhere else but was shipped from Ethiopia."

Smith said 187 kilograms of marijuana was found packed among the shipment of
leather goods on the aircraft Nov. 26.

The leather was destined for a Toronto importer, which is now being
investigated by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

"Sometimes the importer has nothing to do with the drugs," Smith emphasized.

"There's a possibility the drugs were intended to be removed from the
shipment before it left Pearson, but they were discovered before the person
could complete his job."

On Monday, inspectors also uncovered 24 kilograms of cocaine with an
estimated street value of $4.8 million inside a shipment of bottled pepper
sauce that arrived on a plane from Jamaica.

The cocaine was stuffed in packages that had been placed inside the bottles,
Smith said.

The Mounties are probing the Toronto importer that was supposed to receive
that shipment.

Last Sunday, 145 kilograms of hash oil and 183 kilograms of marijuana worth
about $8.5 million were found hidden inside a shipment of yams in a cargo
plane from Jamaica. The drugs, bound for a Toronto importer, were turned
over to the RCMP.

That importer is also being investigated.
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