$40-MILLION IN COCAINE FOUND AMID HOT SAUCE

About $40-million worth of cocaine, hidden within cardboard liners and
wedged between bottles of hot sauce, was uncovered recently in one of
the largest police drug seizures in Ontario's history.

The cocaine was bound for Etobicoke from Guyana via a container vessel
that landed in Saint John earlier this month. Upon inspecting the
vessel's cargo, agents of the Canada Border Services Agency in the New
Brunswick city found 276 kilograms of high-quality cocaine contained
within hundreds of concealable 600-gram bags.

"It's a big one," said Inspector Tom Cameron of the Durham Regional
Police Service. "It's certainly the largest seizure in the history of
our police service."

Insp. Cameron said the shipment included 1,250 boxes of hot sauce, 551
of which concealed bags of cocaine.

All but two kilograms of the illegal substance were removed before the
shipment was received by the owner of Caribbean International Food
Distributors, Mahendrapaul Doodnauth, 45, of Etobicoke, according to
police.

Mr. Doodnauth was arrested Friday after he allegedly unloaded the
boxes of hot sauce at a rented storage facility on Rexdale Boulevard
in Toronto.

He appeared in court yesterday on drug-importing and trafficking
charges.

The arrest was the culmination of an investigation dubbed Project
Falcon. Insp. Cameron said intelligence gathered through the
investigation, which began last year with street-level drug dealers,
directed border agents to inspect the cardboard linings.

"It's not an amateur job, it's quite a sophisticated method used,"
said Insp. Cameron, who added that the illicit packages hidden between
the hot sauce were "undetectable with the eye."