PEARSON DRUG HAUL $165M

More than $165 million in drugs was seized at Pearson International
Airport last year, with authorities sniffing out almost double the
amount of cocaine grabbed in '98.

The airport's drug haul was almost half the take from all of Canada's
customs ports. Last year's national tally soared to $348 million from
$280 million in 1998.

"It just means they're doing a better job of finding it," Canada
Customs spokesman Duncan Smith said of customs and RCMP officers.

Pearson usually nabs about 40% of the national total, he
said.

The designer drug Ecstasy also appears to be on the rise as the newest
narcotic caught in the customs dragnet, according to Canada Customs
statistics.

Of the national 1999 drug haul, $159 million worth (796 kg) was
cocaine and $12.7 million (361,805 doses) was Ecstasy. Not all customs
posts have filed their 1999 totals yet, said Ottawa-based department
spokesman Michel Proulx.

Last year's airport tallies show the Mounties and customs officials
intercepted 419 kg of cocaine at Canada's largest airport, compared
with 212 kg the year before.

"There seems to be, at least in the passenger terminals, an increase
in cocaine and Ecstasy and a lot less marijuana," said Smith.

In total, authorities grabbed slightly less than a tonne of contraband
drugs at Pearson valued at $165.6 million, which is $34.8 million
higher than the $130.8 million take in 1998.

Authorities have also been tracking down stashes in unusual ways this
year. Airport Mounties found their oldest smuggler ever last month
when a 79-year-old great-grandmother was stopped with two bricks of
marijuana worth $9,000 stashed in her suitcase.