RCMP AID SEIZURE OF FIJI HEROIN HAUL

A team of Vancouver-based RCMP drug cops played a pivotal role in the
seizure of a stockpile of heroin in Fiji.

Police say the more than 300 kilograms of heroin seized in Suva on Saturday
was likely destined for the streets of Canada, the U.S. and Australia. Two
men, one from Hong Kong and another from China, have been arrested.

It's believed the heroin originated in the so-called Golden Triangle of
Thailand, Myanmar and Laos.

Sgt. Brian MacDonald of the Vancouver-based Asian Organized Crime Unit led
the B.C. team that went to Fiji to help in an investigation launched by the
Australian Federal Police.

MacDonald said yesterday in Fiji that the operation is a message to highly
organized criminals involved in transnational drug smuggling and other
crimes which include fraud, money laundering and illegal alien smuggling.

"It's time for the criminals to know we can be organized, too," he said.

"We have organized crime groups working around the world and the police can
be just as organized to shut them down."

MacDonald called the stockpile "just huge." One of the largest heroin busts
in Canada occurred in September when about 99-kg was discovered in September
stored in a rented Burnaby warehouse.

Saturday's seizure is about six million single unit doses. It's alleged the
crime syndicate was stockpiling the drug in Fiji for redistribution.

"If this stuff is going to get to Canada we will go out and get it before it
hits our borders," said MacDonald who expects to be home in Vancouver in
about a week.

"Once it starts getting into smaller bits it's much harder to combat."