DRUGS ZINGED INTO PRISON WITH CROSSBOWS

Official Of Quebec Penitentiary 'Never Heard Of Anything Like It'

QUEBEC - Corrections Canada officials seized thousands of dollars worth of
illicit drugs last year at the penitentiary at Donnacona, Que., but they
had no idea how they were being smuggled in -- until guards discovered two
crossbow arrows in the prison yard last month.

"It's a new one for us, and I've never heard of anything like it in any
other [Canadian] prison," said Carl Pelletier, deputy director of the
maximum-security facility near Donnacona, a suburb of Quebec City.

According to Mr. Pelletier, prison officials first heard about drugs being
shot over prison fences with bows last year from an informant. However,
searches in the woods that surround the prison failed to turn up any evidence.

But last month, on Sept. 13, guards found the two arrows imbedded in the
ground inside the prisoners' recreational yard on the northwest side of the
facility.

Two weeks later, on Oct. 3 and 4, the motorized units that patrol the
perimeter road outside the prison's barbed-wire fences found four more
arrows and a tennis ball that had apparently fallen short of their mark.

Those arrows had been fired from a standard bow.

The arrows and the tennis ball contained a total of 25 grams of heroin, 89
grams of marijuana, 29 grams of hash and 115 pills containing a morphine
derivative.

The drugs in the arrows were packed into straws that were crammed into the
hollow shaft.

No arrests have been made in the case, which is being investigated by the
Surete du Quebec. However, nine of the 325 prisoners currently held in
Donnacona are suspects. They could face criminal charges or transfers to
other prisons.

Because drug prices inside prison are several times higher than on the
street (Mr. Pelletier says heroin, for example, sells for $1,000 per gram
in the prison, while a gram of hash or pot fetches $55), the estimated
value of the smuggled drugs found was $40,000.

The use of tennis balls to smuggle drugs, however, is not new.

At the medium-security prison in Laval, which is located next to Autoroute
440, Mr. Pelletier said guards regularly find dope-filled tennis balls that
are thrown into the prison yard from passing vehicles.

Last year, a series of intensive searches that were part of an ongoing
Correctional Service of Canada strategy aimed at cracking down on drug
consumption and smuggling in Canadian prisons led to the seizure of
$183,000 in illicit drugs at the Donnacona facility.

Donnacona officials do not know if or how many drug-stuffed arrows landed
inside prison grounds or if they were recuperated.

However, they are taking measures to thwart the smuggler.

"We'll be putting lights in the woods where the arrows were fired from, and
installing infrared motion detectors in that area," Mr. Pelletier said. He
said, too, that the size of the prisoners' recreational yard will also be
reduced by two-thirds.

"That's part of the consequences [for the arrow shooting]," Mr. Pelletier
said. "We're not running a daycare here."