DRUG BUST REVEALS POT AND COCAINE PIPELINE

High-grade Canadian marijuana is shipped south to the United States,
often by the tonne, then sold or swapped for cocaine that's smuggled
north. It's an exchange of drugs police on both sides of the border
have been aware of for years.

But rarely has the trade seen the scale of arrests and seizures
announced yesterday in Toronto by Canadian and U.S. drug-enforcement
officers.

In all, 24 people -- 18 Canadians and six U.S. residents -- face a
total of more than 250 drug-related charges, stemming from a series of
co-ordinated arrests last week in Southern Ontario and Sterling
Heights, Mich.

"This [two-way traffic] is something we've always believed is
happening," said Detective Sergeant John Decourcy of the Toronto drug
squad. "This investigation confirms it."

Also scooped up were 48 kilograms of cocaine and almost 600 kilos of
marijuana, with a joint net value placed at more than $5-million,
together with 200 tablets of ecstasy, $400,000 in cash, 14 vehicles,
several houses and a 9 mm handgun.

The bulk of the charges allege trafficking in and/or exporting
hydroponically grown marijuana -- a lucrative export for Canadian drug
dealers because of the comparatively harsh U.S. penalties attached to
marijuana cultivation. Police said yesterday most of the marijuana was
grown in the Greater Toronto Area and British Columbia and shipped by
car, truck and boat to the Detroit area.

At least six suspects face charges of trafficking in both marijuana
and cocaine, involving both importation and exportation.