CANADIAN POLICE BUST MAJOR QUEBEC DRUG EXPORTING OPERATION TO U.S.

MONTREAL - RCMP in Quebec believe they have busted a lucrative drug
business in one of Canada's main corridors for exportation of marijuana to
the United States. Twenty-six people face charges following raids Wednesday
at several properties in the Eastern Townships, the south shore of Montreal
and Toronto.

Among them was suspected ringleader Marc-Andre Cusson of Sutton, Que.,
along with one relative of a full-fledged member of the Hells Angels biker
gang. Canadian police continued to search Thursday for three other men,
including a U.S. citizen. Nine people arrested during Wednesday's raids
were released without charges.

After monitoring Cusson for a year, police charged the self-employed
businessman with conspiracy, commission of an offence for a criminal
organization and instructing commission of an offence for criminal
organization.

This operation differed from past ones because it netted one of the
suspected organizers of a drug-exportation business, said Insp. Jacques
Tanguay, the RCMP's commanding officer in southeastern Quebec.

"We have totally destroyed a network that produces, sells and also exports
this cannabis to the United States where they have developed a thriving
market," Tanguay said at the Mounties' headquarters in Montreal.

Police searched 40 properties and seized properties, vehicles, boats, a
tractor, a truck, $160,000 in large denominations, explosives and 60
kilograms of marijuana.

The RCMP said the largely hydroponic operation sent up to 225 kilograms of
cannabis to New England states each week, netting tens of millions of
dollars annually.

Scouts recruited sympathetic independent truckers who would transport the
drugs during runs to border states like Massachusetts, Vermont and New
Hampshire. Each trucker could earn nearly $100 per kilogram of cannabis
transported across the border, said Cpl. Roger Caron, head of the RCMP drug
investigation in Granby., Que.

The money would then be returned to Canada for laundering. One destination
was supposed to be an Algerian cigarette-exporting business in Oakville,
Ont., just west of Toronto, police said. The business hadn't yet started.
Its owner was arrested but has not yet been charged.

More than 300 officers have been involved in Operation Hearse since it
began in the fall of 2000. Working with American officials, police have
intervened on several occasions to seize a total of nearly 450 kilograms of
pot and about $1.2 million US.

Police said they were alerted to the illegal business by Quebec residents
who began to question lavish spending by those with little employment.

"They get a little disturbed when you get dozens of kids with $50,000
vehicles driving around at 20 years old," Caron said.