TINY RCMP DETACHMENT MAKING BIG DRUG BUSTS

Truckers Nabbed At Manitoba-Ontario Border Weigh Scale

FALCON LAKE, MAN. - The RCMP Officer Smelled A Rat.

The truck driver standing in front of him was nervous as the officer
reviewed his documentation at the roadside weigh station. No wonder. The
trucker's waybills were sketchy on details and his gas receipts and log
book did not add up.

That was enough for Const. Ryan Cadotte, who, along with provincial weigh
scale inspectors, initiated a search of the man's vehicle.

Bingo! Minutes later the driver was in cuffs and the tiny RCMP detachment
in Falcon Lake, Man., had recorded another in a string of large drug busts.

The fight against drug trafficking is fought on many fronts in Canada, but
one of the surprising success stories is written at a tiny outpost in the
middle of the Canadian Shield where three Mounties are piling up some
eye-popping statistics. In the past 20 months, the Falcon Lake detachment,
with the help of scale inspectors, has scooped 2,180 kilograms of
marijuana, 37 kilograms of cocaine and drug money totalling $700,000 off
the highway.

The seizures are nothing short of "huge," says Cpl. Chris Ballard, the
detachment commander.

The drug seizures are impressive considering the size of the detachment,
located 125 kilometres east of Winnipeg. The three officers must police a
huge area of cottage country, which can swell to 50,000 people on a busy
summer weekend. Still, they manage to find five to six hours a week to
spend at the scales working with inspectors to halt the flow of contraband.

Ballard admits vigilance on the part of inspectors at the scales is
critical in making these busts, but the Falcon Lake detachment has another
powerful ally in its fight to clamp down on drug smugglers. Truckers must
check in at the scales on the Trans-Canada Highway, 12 kilometres east of
Falcon Lake, if they want to cross the Manitoba-Ontario border.

Inspectors at the scales check thousands of vehicles a month, and Ballard
says "the law of averages" are in their favour. "You inspect enough trucks
and you know what certain types of contrabands look like."

The drug busts come at a time when smugglers are becoming more
sophisticated in hiding their booty. Many of the drugs are hidden in
tractor trailer loads of legitimate products.

The scales are normally open 24 hours a day, but when they are closed,
truckers rarely have a warning. So, if they are carrying drugs, they have
to 'chance it'.

All the drugs confiscated are east-bound and almost certainly the product
of organized crime.

"We're dealing with very large, valuable quantities of drugs," says
Ballard. "It wouldn't be shipped without some kind of organized association
to back it."