HEROIN SEIZURE RENEWS CALL FOR PORT POLICING MONEY

Delta Police Chief Cites Deltaport Bust As More Proof Of Need To Fund
Liaison Officer

A major heroin seizure at the Deltaport container terminal earlier this
month is an example of why the Delta police department continues to lobby
for enforcement funding.

"It has always been our position that we believe the Vancouver Port
Authority needs to commit that funding for a port liaison officer," said
Delta police chief Jim Cessford.

Canada Ports Police was dissolved, leaving the bulk of enforcement to local
police agencies. The port provided interim funding, which runs out this
September.

On April 12, Canada Customs officials targeted a vessel arriving at
Deltaport from the city of Huangpu in China. It was shipping a load of
canned pineapple, said Faith St. John of the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency.

The Paris V docked at Deltaport, where customs officials used a portable
x-ray machine to inspect the cans, which had ruptured because the pineapple
had begun to ferment.

Inside, officers found 42 kilograms of heroin and 250 packets of
phenylacetone, a precursor chemical used to make methamphetamine.
Investigators are trying to determine whether that chemical caused the
fruit to begin fermentation.

"It's one of the things investigators are looking at right now," St. John said.

Methamphetamine, manufactured in home-built labs, is taken in pill form.

As for the heroin seizure, officers said it would have yielded more than a
quarter of a million doses on the street. One drug enforcement officer said
each "flat" sells on the street for $35 to $40.

The Paris V, part of the China Shipping Container Line, sails into
Deltaport regularly. CSCL was founded in 1997 and is under the
administration of the Chinese government.

This is the first heroin seizure at Deltaport by customs officers. Canada
Customs says it inspects about 20 per cent of the vessels docking at the
container terminal at Roberts Bank.