DRUG SMUGGLERS GROUNDED

The cops have grounded a gang of high-flying dope smugglers and
seized their $600,000 helicopter.

Four people have been arrested in B.C. and nine in the U.S. during
the 18-month investigation.

The smugglers are believed to have made numerous airdrops of
top-quality B.C. bud into rural Washington, and returned to B.C. with
cocaine, cash and guns.

Police on both sides of the border have seized 320 kilograms of pot,
three kilos of cocaine, guns and a crossbow. The total amount of cash
seized is $480,000 US and $104,000 Cdn.

Under proceeds-of-crime legislation, RCMP have seized a $400,000 home
in Surrey, two Mercedes Benz cars, a 1996 Ford F350 truck and a
speedboat. U.S. authorities seized the Astar 350 chopper.

"The purpose for their existence was to traffic marijuana into the
United States," RCMP Cpl. Garry Begg said yesterday. "As far as we
were concerned they were highly organized and very good at what they
were doing."

The busts began in June 1999 when U.S. Customs agents arrested a
Canadian and American in Washington state and seized 14.5 kilos of
pot.

"That's where we first became interested in this," said Begg.

"From that point on, we used a myriad of what are today considered to
be normal police procedures to investigate it."

In one instance, last Aug. 22, members of the Organized Crime Agency
of B.C. saw two men leave Abbotsford in a helicopter.

"The helicopter headed into a remote logging road in the Mount Baker
area (in Washington). Two large duffel bags and one small bag were
off-loaded there into a vehicle with Washington state plates," said
OCABC spokesman Randy Elliot.

The bags of marijuana were unloaded at a Bellingham home.

U.S. Customs officials said the smugglers then brought cocaine back to Canada.

Said U.S. Customs Special Agent Rodney Tureaud: "The group was
responsible for numerous airdrops of marijuana into western
Washington state and the smuggling of firearms, cocaine and currency
into Canada."

The four people arrested in B.C. have been freed pending charges.

Some of those in the U.S. have already been convicted, imprisoned and
released. No names were released.

B.C.-grown marijuana has become a multibillion-dollar crop. Much of
it goes to the U.S. where, in markets like Los Angeles, it fetches
the same price per gram as gold.

Police have criticized B.C. judges for imposing light sentences on
growers, saying criminals are moving to B.C. because the cost of
doing business -- penalties upon getting caught -- are negligible.