97 A HIT FOR DRUG BUSTS

It's been a boffo year for drug seizures, customs officials said yesterday.

Michel Cleroux of Revenue Canada said inspectors across the country have
snapped up $517 million in narcotics in 1997 - $176 million at Pearson
International Airport alone.

"1997 has been good to us," Cleroux said, boasting customs officers coast
to coast made 4,594 individual seizures in the past 12 months.

'BEST YEARS EVER'

"As far as seizures go, we're looking at one of our best years ever and a
lot of it has to do with smugglers trying to get by us over the Christmas
holidays," he said.

Cleroux said the icing on the cake for Pearson came Christmas Day when
customs officers intercepted two separate shipments of hash oil worth an
estimated $41.2 million.

UPPED THE VALUE

Both seizures were made on flights arriving from Jamaica, he said. In the
meantime, Revenue Canada yesterday upped the value of a 43-kilo heroin
seizure made Sunday night at Toronto's international airport.

Although the RCMP originally pegged the street value of the haul at $16.8
million, customs officials said the drug's purity makes it worth closer to
$64 million.

Copyright (c) 1997, Canoe Limited Partnership.