WAR ON DRUGS TAKING FLIGHT

RCMP Set Up Shop At Airport

Like an exhibit by Ripley's Believe It Or Not, cocaine dissolved in rum,
hash packed in a hollow-bottomed cooking pot and grass in cans of process
cheese were displayed at the opening of the RCMP's newest detachment yesterday.

The Mounties' Pearson International Airport detachment -- their 13th in
Ontario -- opened with a show of some of the imaginative ways people try to
smuggle in drugs.

SKY'S THE LIMIT

"(Drugs) have been found in anything and any type of clothing apparel --
the sky's the limit, said RCMP Cpl. Larry Foy.

Drug seizures are normally done by Canada Customs officers in conjunction
with the RCMP, Foy said. Airport authorities have seized more than $23
million in drugs since last Oct. 1.

The new, 100-member airport detachment not only gives the Mounties more
means to intercept drugs but wider duties, said Insp. John Neily.

SECURITY

The RCMP has four mandate areas, of which the Federal Enforcement Section
is the broadest, investigating and enforcing laws of customs and excise;
immigration and passport; proceeds of crime; economic crime, and a national
security and intelligence section.

Neily said the detachment will be better organized and equipped to
investigate organized crime, whose most visible activities are smuggling
drugs, goods and people.