DRUG HAUL IN JET

100 Kilos From Jamaica Hidden In Plane's Floor

Canada Customs and the RCMP have seized 100 kilos of drugs worth 10.5
$million -- one of the largest dope seizures yet in the body of a jet at
Pearson airport.

The Mounties have repeatedly warned of an internal ring of corrupt ramp
workers who are behind the smuggling.

Police say the stashed drugs could interfere with the safe operation of
aircraft and put the lives of passengers in danger.

Customs spokesman Duncan Smith said the 40 kilos of cocaine and 61 kilos of
hash oil were found Sunday in service panels under the floor in the cargo
area of a SkyService jet returning from Jamaica.

MECHANIC NEEDED

He said it took an aircraft mechanic about 30 minutes to disassemble the
floor to get to the drugs.

"An officer noticed that the service access panel of the plane had been
tampered with," Smith said. "This area is not accessible to passengers."
He said the airline will not be fined.

Smith said the dope was wrapped and taped in brown plastic.

"This is one of our bigger seizures from an aircraft," he said. "This is a
big haul."

The Mounties suspect the dope was loaded by ramp workers in Jamaica, and
was to have been removed here by colleagues and smuggled out of the airport.

Drug officers said most of the cocaine is manufactured in Colombia and
transhipped to Canada from Caribbean countries.

The Mounties have said Pearson workers are paid thousands of dollars to
remove the drugs.

RCMP Cpl. Larry Foy said there has been no arrests.

"We believe the drugs were to have been taken off by workers here," Foy said.

NO ARRESTS

Senior RCMP drug officers have been warning for three years it would be
possible for crooked ramp workers to plant explosives on aircraft.