GILDAN CLOSES BARBADOS PLANT AFTER MARIJUANA FIND

A Canadian-owned T-shirt assembly operation closed its Barbados plant after
authorities found a large multiton shipment of marijuana hidden among
clothes in one of its shipments originating in at the plant. Gildan
Activewear SRL -- which exports mainly to the U.S. -- said it closed the
assembly plant on Monday to safeguard against more drugs being sent with
its products. The Barbadian plant's 50 workers also were laid off Monday.
The company said its main concern is losing permission to ship to the U.S.
from its plants in the Caribbean and Central America if similar incidents
continue to occur. Authorities found at least 10 metric tons of marijuana
hidden in the Miami-bound shipping container, which departed Barbados on
Feb. 1 and was stopped midway through the Caribbean.