2 A'BURG MEN IN U.S. JAIL FOR DRUG DEAL

Ecstasy, Marijuana Seized

Two Amherstburg men are in custody in the U.S. after their alleged
late-night drug deal on a rural Michigan airport runway went awry.

Jesse Rusenstrom, 20, and Matthew Moody, 32, are charged with
"possession with intent to distribute controlled substances" after
authorities seized ecstasy and marijuana with an estimated street
value of US$8 million.

Border agents became suspicious Friday when a Cessna plane flew into
Michigan from Canada without following proper procedures, the Detroit
Free Press reported. The agent followed the plane in a Blackhawk
helicopter to the Sandusky City Airport, about 140 kilometres north of Detroit.

Rusenstrom and Moody met the plane in a rented grey 2009 SUV, said
Brad Roff, undersheriff for the Sanilac County Sheriff's office. An
occupant of the plane tossed eight duffel bags filled with ecstasy
and marijuana onto the ground, and in return took a bag of money
allegedly offered by Rusenstrom and Moody.

But when the helicopter approached, the two men got spooked and
allegedly took off with just three bags of drugs, leaving the other
five sitting on the runway.

Roff said the helicopter shone its spotlights on the vehicle and
followed it into the small town of Sandusky.

That's when officers closed in on the SUV in a parking lot.

While Moody was arrested on the spot, Rusenstrom fled on foot into
what Roff called the "downtown business core."

Covering an area of "just about a mile or mile and a half square" and
with a population of just 2,745, Sandusky didn't offer Rusenstrom
much in the way of hideouts at 11 p.m, police said. Officers took him
into custody three or four hours after Moody was arrested. "He must
have come out thinking things were safe," Roff said.

Meanwhile, officers from the Sanilac County Sheriff's office and the
Drug Enforcement Administration headed back to the airport with the
SUV and collected more than 300 pounds of ecstasy pills and about 100
pounds of hydroponically grown marijuana.

DEA special agent and public information officer Rich Isaacson said
the marijuana had a street value of about US$4,000 per pound and the
ecstasy -- all 500,000 pills of it -- could be sold for about US$15 per pill.

"The DEA believes this to be a very huge seizure," Isaacson said,
adding that "a reasonable person" would believe the two men were
bringing the drugs into the U.S. to be distributed in that country.

"This is certainly not a new trend. A lot of high-grade marijuana and
ecstasy comes into the U.S. from Canada. Obviously with this seizure,
there's no sign this trend is slowing down."

The manager of the Sandusky City Airport, Joseph Allen, had a theory
of why the drug dealers chose his airport's 930-metre runway for the
transaction. "It's not hard to figure out. We're the first paved
runway west of Lake Huron that's not in controlled airspace," he
said. "There's no controlled airspace, there's no radars watching the
skies above. It's kind of a desolate area."

He said the incident was aggravating, but is glad the drug
transaction got intercepted. "It's worth it to me -- all I've got to
do is fix up a few little ruts in the grass where the police drove
across the grass. I'm just glad that the bad guys got caught and the
drugs didn't make it to the street."