BORDER BONANZA

Busy Weekend For Customs Officers

Steroids and speed and hash, oh my.

It was a busy weekend for drug smugglers who just couldn't seem to put one
over on Canada Customs.

The bust-o-rama began Friday at the Coutts border crossing, about 250 km
southeast of Calgary, when a customs officer confronted two men entering
from the After talking to the men, the officer became leery and his
suspicions were later confirmed when illegal anabolic steroids were found
hidden in their vehicle's heater compartment.

"They found 537 dosages of the stuff," said Gordon Luchia, spokesman for
Revenue Canada.

Milk River Mounties were called and they charged Andrew Lloyd Lawson, of
Barrhead, and Jason Donald Pederson, of Clyde, with importation of a
controlled substance into Canada.

They appear in Lethbridge court this morning.

The very next day, customs hit another homer when they nabbed a male and a
couple of female "mules" transporting $109,000 in methamphetamine -- a
popular, highly addictive drug manufactured in the U.S.

RCMP charged Melanie Dawn Klaus, of Didsbury, Brent Allen Browne, of
Calgary, and Karen Joan LeBorgne, of Claresholm, with possession for the
purpose of trafficking and importation of a controlled substance into Canada.

They will be in Lethbridge court today.

Closer to home, Champ, a drug detection dog, was greeting passengers at the
Calgary International Airport when he became interested in two men just in
from London.

Customs officers saw the men each drop packages in a trash can.

More than 38 grams of hash were recovered from the garbage cans.

Luis Carlos Villa Garcia and Bernando Manon Lopez, both of Spain, will be
in Calgary court today to answer charges of importing narcotics.