FIVE BUSTED FOR DRUG SMUGGLING ACROSS U.S. BORDER

CALGARY -- A long-running international smuggling operation that used
small planes to ferry illegal drugs between Alberta and Montana has
been dismantled by police, who said yesterday that five Canadians face
charges in connection with the plot.

The nine-month investigation, dubbed Project IDEA, resulted in the
seizure of $5.2-million worth of drugs, including 500 kilograms of
marijuana, 30 kilograms of cocaine, 9,000 tablets of diazepam and 210
vials of ketamine. Officials also grabbed a Smith Aerostar 601
twin-engine airplane valued at $200,000, but believe more than one
plane was involved in the scheme that used small airports to send
British Columbia-grown marijuana to the United States and bring
cocaine into Canada.

"It's a very big deal," Inspector Joan McCallum of Alberta's
Integrated Response to Organized Crime unit, known as IROC, told
reporters in Calgary. "This is a major drug bust."

IROC, which was set up by the province more than two years ago to
infiltrate and dismantle organized crime cells, worked with the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Agency and U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement to
crack what Insp. McCallum described as an "independent" operation.

RCMP, Calgary and Edmonton police were also involved in the
investigation.

Garry Hamilton, 52, of Invermere, B.C., Graham Owen, 48, of Calgary
and Daniel Tican, 24, also of Calgary, were arrested in Los Angeles in
November and charged with conspiracy to important marijuana and
conspiracy to export cocaine.

"These people, because of being charged with conspiracy, they'll
probably face between 10 years and life, which is considerably more
than they would get in Canada," Insp. McCallum said.

The ongoing investigation prevented police from disclosing the news
until yesterday and more charges will likely be laid, she said. Two
other men in the U.S. are still under investigation in connection with
the plot, she added.

Two other men, Terry Holt, a 51-year-old Invermere man, who was
arrested early this year in Montana after a highway patrol officer
discovered drugs in his vehicle, and 26-year-old Christopher Carew of
Vancouver, who was picked up in Utah in September, were also charged
in connection with Project IDEA.