MORE COKE SEIZED IN FOOD SHIPMENT

Police Grab Drugs Worth $14.5M Discovered In Second Delivery Destined
For Etobicoke Distributor

Another $14.5 million worth of cocaine has been seized from a second
ship in an operation dubbed Project Falcon - a major drug
investigation led by Durham Region police, Canada Border Services
Agency and the RCMP.

The drugs were destined for Caribbean International Food Distributors,
the same company police linked to another $40 million drug shipment
earlier this week.

The container was searched in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, on Dec.
24 by agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, acting on
information received from Canadian investigators.

Inside the ship, police found 100 kilograms of cocaine hidden inside
cardboard dividers in about 140 boxes of food seasoning destined for
the Etobicoke-based distribution company.

Along with the previous shipment, the amount of cocaine seized totals
376 kilograms, with an estimated street value of $54.5 million.

Project Falcon sought to identify the sources of the criminal network
that supplied cocaine to street gangs and drug abusers in Durham Region.

The second seizure comes after police announced one of the largest
drug busts in Ontario history on Dec. 23.

That first freight container arrived at Saint John, N.B. on Dec. 8,
where police found 276 kilograms of cocaine. When cut, it would have
become approximately 400 kilograms of street-level cocaine, worth $40
million.

That drug shipment was traced back to Guyana where the freight
containers shipped out, police said.

Investigators removed all but two kilograms of the cocaine; the
controlled was then delivered to its original destination, Caribbean
International Food Distributors.

It was received by the company's owner who unloaded the boxes at a
rented storage facility on Rexdale Blvd.

"Cocaine is a highly addictive poison that tears families apart. It is
often the root cause of many crimes, especially at the street level,"
Durham police chief Mike Ewles told reporters at the time.

"Some people engage in a life of crime to support their addiction. It
is also a commodity that supports criminal gangs and wreaks havoc in
our communities with associated turf wars and killings."