$2.3-MILLION IN B.C. MARIJUANA SMUGGLED INTO NEWFOUNDLAND VIA CANADA POST,
COURIERS

Police have seized about $3-million in drugs and cash from a
cross-country scheme to bring B.C. marijuana into Newfoundland via
Canada Post, couriers, Air Canada and stolen cars.

Twenty-seven arrest warrants were served yesterday in Newfoundland,
Ontario and British Columbia, the culmination of a year-long
investigation aided by recent federal legislation targeting organized
crime.

"What you see here is B.C. bud coming from British Columbia," said
RCMP Inspector Wayne Sutherland.

The drugs -- 110 kilograms of marijuana as well as cocaine, Ecstasy,
steroids and Oxycodone -- arrived in Newfoundland in the mail,
concealed in courier packages and airplane luggage and hidden in the
spare tires of stolen vehicles, police said.

The drugs had an estimated street value of $2.3-million -- a
significant amount in a province with a population of 550,000.