ARREST IN 3 STATES, CANADA TARGET ECSTASY SMUGGLING RING

NEW YORK - Twenty-two people were accused Thursday of smuggling more
than $5 million in Ecstasy pills from Canada into the United States.

Of the defendants, 19 were arrested in New York, Pennsylvania and
Maryland, and one was arrested in Canada, according to a news release
from U. S. and Canadian federal investigators, which didn't account
for the other two.

The smuggling organization had imported more than 250,000 pills of the
synthetic drug into the United States since 2005, authorities said.
The pills, often packaged to look like candy, were distributed on the
streets and in the clubs and brothels of New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina and Georgia, among other places.

On July 14, officers seized approximately 53,000 pills worth more than
$1 million at a storage facility in Edison, N. J. The pills were
labeled with stamps and markings including "cherry," "Versace" and "
6-point star," the news release said.

The arrests were based on an indictment filled in U. S. District Court
in Manhattan. They resulted from a yearlong probe involving many
federal and local law enforcement organizations.