HARD WORK PAYS OFF

RCMP credit hard work and good old-fashioned luck for its recent
success in intercepting several sizable drug shipments in traffic
stops on the Trans-Canada Highway near Moose Jaw.

"When we go out, and we conduct our traffic stops, you never know
what you're going to get," said Const. Dan Donison, a member of
traffic enforcement and part of the team of officers with the Moose
Jaw RCMP detachment who made the busts.

Since late August, the Moose Jaw Mounties have uncovered large
amounts of cocaine and marijuana while stopping vehicles in what
began as a routine traffic investigation, for such violations as
speeding and expired licence plates.

"As you deal with the people in the traffic stop, if there's some
anomalies there -- some things that just seem out of place, unusual
- -- you follow up on that," explained Donison. "It's amazing what you
come across when you stop vehicles, and just ask a couple simple
questions when things don't add up."

The latest bust came Nov. 21 when RCMP pulled over an eastbound
Pontiac Bonneville about three kilometres west of Caronport. The
trunk held 23 kilograms of marijuana, enough to make about 70,000
joints.

Five days earlier, two duffel bags packed with six kilograms of
cocaine were found in the backseat of a Buick with an expired licence
plate about one kilometre west of Caronport. In court, the prosecutor
said the drugs were worth anywhere from $250,000 to $350,000. The 57-
year-old Winnipeg man couriering the drugs ended up with an eight-
year prison term at his sentencing last week.

Just a month before on Oct. 21, RCMP stopped an eastbound car near
Caron for speeding and found 10 kilograms of pot in the vehicle.

It followed a traffic stop three days earlier of an eastbound pickup
truck about 30 kilometres west of Moose Jaw. Police found 23
kilograms of marijuana and 300 grams of cannabis resin.

And a month earlier saw the arrest of a 34-year-old B.C. man who was
initially caught for speeding in an eastbound Subaru car on the Trans-
Canada Highway. In the trunk were 10 kilograms of marijuana stuffed
into two duffel bags and tucked into the trunk of car. The driver
received a three-year prison sentence.

His capture followed on the heels of an Aug. 24 vehicle stop on the
Trans-Canada east of Moose Jaw that turned up two kilograms of cocaine.

Donison said the officers aren't targeting any particular vehicle
type or licence plate because drug transportation comes in all shapes
and sizes from passenger cars to commercial vehicles.

It's no surprise the most direct route across this country is being
used to move drugs. "There's certainly no reason rhyme or reason to
why we see the recent influx," he added.

Asked if Saskatchewan is a destination or just a through-route,
Donison said the drugs are headed across the country. He noted the
large amounts are certainly not "user weights" and potentially
suggest links to commercial operations and organized crime.

A member of the RCMP for nearly six years, Donison admitted there's a
certain satisfaction in keeping the drugs from hitting the streets.

"Every little bit you can get off the road is, at the end of the day,
something that's not going to end up in the hands of a kid or
destroying a family."