LARGE DRUG SHIPMENTS INTERCEPTED IN HIGHWAY BUSTS

REGINA - 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 back seat 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 was 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 targetting 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 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."