ANOTHER HIGHWAY POT BUST

MAPLE CREEK -- RCMP Wednesday made another spectacular drug seizure on the
Trans Canada Highway near Maple Creek -- the second seizure in the past two
days -- and netted marijuana with an estimated street value of $230,000.

Maple Creek Highway Patrol officers stopped an Ontario-registered 2000
Oldsmobile Silhouette for a minor traffic offence. The attending officer
recalled Monday's incident and conducted a cursory examination of the
vehicle's underside, which revealed the presence of containers affixed to
the underside of the vehicle.

Two Toronto men, aged 42 and 20, were arrested and charged with trafficking
when a subsequent search of their eastbound vehicle revealed 26 kilos of
cannabis in three containers under the vehicle.

"The containers are of a much stronger construction and appear to have been
manufactured by someone who knew something about sheet metal," police said.

The containers were of a much more robust construction and appeared to have
been formed and folded using precision machinery and had drainage holes in
the floors.

The drugs were individually double vacuum-sealed in plastic bags and then
placed into the containers for their journey.

"The similarities between this seizure and Monday's are uncanny," police
said.

In the last two days more than 59 kilos of high-quality marijuana has been
seized by Maple Creek Highway Patrol with a total value of more than
$500,000.

The coincidences attributed to these seizures are the use of a specific type
of vehicle and the utilization of external bolt-on panniers, which can hold
large quantities of drugs.

Both men have been remanded in custody and transferred from Maple Creek to
Swift Current where they will face court.