CALGARY ECSTASY BUST SETS RECORD

$52.5m Haul Found In Pianos

RCMP drug investigators in Calgary and Vancouver are working with Interpol
to determine the origin of 120 kilograms of ecstasy powder intercepted at
Calgary International Airport in what is believed to be the largest
shipment of ecstasy ever seized in Canada.

The $52.5 million in powdered ecstasy, which could have produced more than
1.5 million pills, was found inside three pianos aboard a scheduled flight
bound for Calgary from Frankfurt, Germany.

"The investigation is continuing in Germany to see who was involved there,"
said Calgary RCMP Cpl. Patrick Webb. "Not too many people do this type of
thing on their own. It was done by an organized group."

Officers with Canada Customs and Revenue intercepted 120 one-kilogram bags
of the white powder on Oct. 16 while inspecting cargo from an Air Canada
flight direct from Frankfurt.

The drugs -- which were sealed in freezer bags, masked with purple and
black carbon paper and then covered with plastic wrap -- were stacked in
the back of three high-end German Schimmel pianos.

Customs officers were suspicious because the backs of the $20,000 pianos
were covered with plywood.

"Once they removed the backs, they saw drugs were stacked in the ribs of
the piano," said Webb.

Commercial customs officers, who also search truck, courier and rail cargo,
randomly chose to search the freight before it was loaded onto a plane and
shipped to Vancouver.

"Things just didn't look right with the piano," said Supt. Suzanne
Thrasher. "The officers just wanted to go a little bit further."

RCMP drug experts were called in to test the powder, which turned out to be
the powdered form of ecstasy.

The pure form of ecstasy, known as methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), is
a hallucinogenic amphetamine. As a powder, it can be inhaled or injected.
It can be diluted in water and sprayed in the eyes or absorbed in the skin.

According to local drug squad officers, only a small portion of what is
sold as ecstasy is pure. Most is cut with other, illegal substances such as
LSD.

The drugs from the Calgary bust were removed from the pianos and a
"controlled delivery" was orchestrated by investigators in Vancouver.

Police arrested a B.C. man who claimed the cargo from customs officials in
Vancouver upon arrival.

Kwong Yuen Chow, 40, of Richmond, is to appear in Calgary provincial court
today. He has been charged with importation and possession for the purposes
of trafficking.

This isn't the first time a form of ecstasy has been seized at the airport
in Calgary.

In July 2000, a tip from Germany helped customs officials discover more
than 5,600 ecstasy pills in pantyhose worn by a male passenger from Frankfurt.

Mounties say the latest interception has made a huge dent in the ecstasy
trade in the country, but acknowledge millions of dollars' worth of the
drug are being produced every day.

"It will have a significant effect on wherever it was destined for," said
Webb, "but whenever you arrest someone, someone else moves up and takes
their place."