44 POUNDS OF COCAINE SEIZED FROM TRUCK AT PEACE BRIDGE

FORT ERIE, Ont. -- Canadian border police seized 44 pounds of cocaine,
with an estimated street value of $2.7 million, that had been
concealed in a truck attempting to cross the Peace Bridge, officials
announced today.

Ontario public safety officials said it was the largest seizure of
cocaine ever made in the Niagara Falls and Fort Erie section of the
province.

The drugs were confiscated last Saturday, when a truck driver
attempting to cross at the Peace Bridge was referred for secondary
inspection, according to a news release from the Canada Border
Services Agency.

The driver's cargo of parts for school buses was removed from the
truck and examined by agency officers, who discovered 20 brick-shaped
packages of cocaine hidden within two crates.

The driver, a 27-year-old resident of Brampton, Ont., was arrested on
charges of importing a controlled substance and possession of a
controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking.

His name was not released because the investigation is continuing,
Jean D'Amelio Swyer, a spokeswoman for the agency, told The Buffalo
News.

Swyer said the agency waited until today to announce the news of the
seizure and arrest because it took six days to prepare the news release.