SALTWATER STING AS RCMP HALT SMUGGLERS -- 300 KM AT SEA

$225M Of Hash Seized

MONTREAL - The Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced yesterday they
had fleeced an organized crime group out of close to a quarter of a
billion dollars worth of illegal narcotics.

In a sting operation right out of a movie script, the RCMP tricked an
import cell of Montreal's West End Gang into handing over 22.5 tonnes
of hashish -- worth about $225-million -- on May 10, more than 300
kilometres off the coast of Angola.

The mostly Filipino crew of the ship that left Pakistan loaded with
contraband were secretly videotaped hoisting and transferring 989
bales of hashish, most of it individually packed in shrink-wrapped
metallic coffee packets, onto a ship rented for the occasion by the RCMP.

The ship, crewed by RCMP officers, then transported the drugs to
Canada and delivered the narcotics to a home in St. Jean Sur
Richelieu, Que., about 50 kilometres southeast of Montreal, the
presumed distribution centre, on June 2, and arrested the alleged
ringleaders in the drug-smuggling scheme.

Arrested were Peter Toman, 59, his son Andrew Toman, 24 and Sidney
Lallouz, 57, all from Montreal and, according to the RCMP, all
affiliated with the West End Gang.

The three face charges of drug importation, conspiracy to import,
possession for the purpose of trafficking and drug trafficking.

This seizure is six times the amount of hashish seized last year
either in Canada or en route to Canada.

The 22.5 tonnes translates to 22,500 kilograms or 22.5 million
one-gram units, the usual measurement for a hashish sale. At a street
price of $10 a gram, the haul represents $225 million that will not
be going to organized crime, said RCMP Staff Sergeant Andre Potvin.

The RCMP in both Halifax and Montreal worked on every detail of the
complicated sting for more than a year-and-a-half, Staff-Sgt. Potvin said.

In order to move the drugs to Montreal, the group needed a ship
capable of deep-water navigation and a crew. The transfer of goods
from one ship to another would take place in international waters off
the southwest coast of Africa.

The RCMP undercover officers who had infiltrated the drug
organization said they could provide both ship and crew. They were
provided with $195,000 Canadian for expenses and promised $9-million
for their troubles upon delivery.

Undercover officers spent 43 days at sea, waiting for the transfer
and transporting the drugs to Canada.

In order to assure the safety of the officers and their valuable
cargo, a Department of National Defence frigate, the HMCS
Fredericton, trailed the RCMP-chartered ship from a distance.

According to police reports, the West End Gang, was originally
dominated by Irish mobsters and has operated for years in Montreal.
Reports suggest its tentacles now reach all over the island.

Since the 1970s, police say the gang has expanded from specializing
in truck hijackings and robberies to include drugs and it is believed
to have ties with the Mafia and the Hells Angels. It is also believed
to have influence at the port of Montreal.