WOMAN DROPS PANTS IN AIRPORT AFTER CUSTOMS' SMUGGLING CLAIM

TORONTO -- Canada Customs officers are looking into an incident in
which a black woman stripped below the waist in a public area of
Pearson airport after being accused of drug smuggling.

"It appears she disrobed voluntarily. It was a voluntary act in a very
public area," Customs spokesman Mark Butler said yesterday.

Butler said there was little he could say since the woman wasn't
charged, but sources said the incident happened three weeks after
Customs officers were accused of targeting black people for drugs upon
returning from Jamaica.

Airport workers said a Toronto woman, 20, arrived on the flight about
11 p.m. last Monday and a Terminal 2 Customs officer accused her of
smuggling drugs in body cavities.

The irate woman suddenly removed her pants and underwear in front of
about 30 stunned people and bent down in front of the officer to show
she had no drugs, workers said.

"There's no drugs and there's no need to search me," the angry woman
told the officer.

The workers said the woman was told to put back on her clothes and was
then taken to a local hospital to undergo drug checks before being
released.

Butler said X-rays and stool sample would be the usual drug checks at
hospital.

He said there's no report the woman was singled out or harassed, but
Customs officials are looking into the incident.

"We don't target passengers based on their ethnic background," Butler
said of searching Jamaican flights. But he added, "certain parts of
the world pose a higher risk for drugs."

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady