N.S. IS 'WIDE OPEN' TO DRUG TRAFFICKING

Nova Scotia's jagged coastline and secluded coves have made it so
attractive to cocaine, hashish and ecstasy smugglers, one fifth of Canada's
drug seizures over the past 20 years happened in this province, says the
provincial co-ordinator of the RCMP's Coastal Watch program.

And that number is on the rise. More than half of the $2 billion in illegal
drugs Mounties estimate policing agencies seized in Nova Scotia over two
decades was nabbed in the past eight years, said Cpl. Fred Gallop, who is
attending a closed-door conference of North America's Anti-Smuggling
Investigators Association in Halifax that ends today.

"If you look at all the nooks and crannies, we have over 4,000 kilometres
of coastline," Gallop said yesterday. "We're virtually wide open for any
trafficking potential."

Drugs smuggled into Nova Scotia are often destined for larger markets, he said.

"The product that lands here could be in New York within 24 hours."

It's impossible to tell how much cocaine from South America, hash from the
Middle East and ecstasy from Europe is successfully smuggled into Nova
Scotia, Gallop said.

"The price on the street is staying constant. So the laws of supply and
demand in this industry are alive and well; the product is getting
through," he said.

That's why the RCMP Coastal Watch program wants people to report anything
that looks like it might be related to drug smuggling at 1-800-803-7267.

"Without the public's support, were not going to do the job," Gallop said.

Suspicious activity could include anything from foreign sailors who just
don 't seem friendly to fishermen who have more fancy cars and money than
their neighbours.

"There might be just a gut feeling that something doesn't seem right,"
Gallop said.

And with more than 50 small airstrips in Nova Scotia, people should also be
on the lookout for suspicious planes rigged up with extra fuel tanks that
may be bringing in cocaine.

"If they fly from South America close to the deck and below the radar
coverage, then we have to have the public's support," Gallop said.

But he cautions people not to approach suspected smugglers off the beaten
track.

"If you were to walk into a remote cove and stumble across an offload, I'm
not sure you'd want to go down and have a cup of tea with them," Gallop
said. "My suggestion would be get out of there and then call."

Nova Scotia Drug Hauls

*near Tangier, just west of Sheet Harbour.

*In August 2000, customs agents in Aulds Cove, Antigonish Co., found 54.2
kilograms of cocaine hidden in the hull of a Venezuelan ship.

*In October 1996, Cheticamp RCMP seized 10 tonnes of hashish aboard a yacht
off Cape Breton.

*In March 1994, Customs found 752 kilograms of cocaine worth more than $150
million packaged in cases of pineapple rings in a container.

*In February 1994, the destroyer HMCS Terra Nova apprehended the freighter
Pacifico off Shelburne. Police seized 5.9 tonnes of cocaine worth $1.2 billion.

*In July 1990, RCMP seized 27.7 tonnes of hashish with a street value of
$335 million from two boats and a number of rental trucks at Baleine, near
Louisbourg.

*In May 1990, Mounties found 35 tonnes of hash, worth about $400 million,
submerged in waterproof bags under a wharf in Ragged Harbour, Queens Co.