POLICE STRIKE OIL WITH DRUG BUST

Toronto police have rolled up a major drug smuggling ring discovered
when customs inspectors found more than 600 kilograms of hashish
hidden under a load of pumpkins and yams from Jamaica.

The probe began in June when the Canada Border Services Agency
searched a shipping container unloaded in Halifax and found a false
bottom under the boxes of vegetables and canned goods inside. A
routine scanning of the container turned up something suspicious,
said Alonzo MacNeil, chief of marine operations for the agency.

The container was emptied and put through a thorough search,
including drilling into the floor. "We struck oil, so to speak," said
Mr. MacNeil.

The agency called in the RCMP, who in turn contacted Toronto police,
because the container was bound for the Toronto area. Investigators
decided to follow the trail right to the end, replacing the
vegetables and removing 635 kilograms of drugs, mostly hash oil from
the container.

Police tracked the container as it was shipped to a west Toronto
warehouse, hooked it up to a transport truck and driven to Lynden.
Police later arrested two men and charged them with theft and
importing drugs. Darrell Desroche, 42, of Lynden, and Michael
Owsienko, 45, of Winona, Ont. appeared in court earlier this month.

Details about the seizure were not made public until yesterday
because of the ongoing investigation.

"We had surveillance on that cargo can the whole time," said
Detective Sergeant John Decourcy, of the Toronto police drug squad.
"It was hidden in a private garage."

Police later arrested two men and charged them with theft and importing drugs.

Darrell Desroche, 42, of Lynden, and Michael Owsienko, 45, of Winona
appeared in court earlier this month.

Details about the seizure were not made public until yesterday
because of the ongoing investigation.

Det.-Sgt. Decourcy said it was satisfying for his detectives to be
able to track a large drug shipment -- worth an estimated $19-million
- -- and scoop it up along with the smugglers before it was distributed
on Toronto streets.

"We don't generally get a heads up like this before a shipment even
arrive in the city," he said.

Project Kalabaza has been just the latest in a series of major drug
seizures for the border agency.

Last July, agency officers discovered 4,000 one-kilogram packets of
hashish hidden inside bales of cotton from Pakistan and headed to Toronto.

Mr. MacNeil said nearly 6,00 kilograms of illegal drugs have been
seized this year entering Canada through the port of Halifax.