BIGGEST POT BUST IN FALCON

Mounties Arrest Driver Of T.O.-Bound Semi

Falcon Lake RCMP have made their largest dope bust after a Toronto-bound
semi was found hauling 900 pounds of B.C. bud Monday afternoon. Police
arrested the driver of the truck at the West Hawk Lake weigh scale after a
Department of Highways inspector found what he believed to be marijuana
hidden in a box inside the truck, said Const. David Pateman.

The inspector contacted RCMP who obtained a search warrant and uncovered
numerous boxes containing packaged marijuana.

STREET VALUE $2.5 MILLION

"It's the biggest seizure we've ever had in this area," said Pateman, who
estimated the dope's street value at $2.5 million.

The driver, a 37-year-old Brampton, Ont., man, was released on a promise to
appear. Charges of possession of marijuana and possession for the purpose
of trafficking are pending, Pateman said.

Police would not say what company the man was driving for but confirmed the
truck was coming from B.C.

"Obviously with this size of seizure we are dealing with organized crime.
Who exactly we are dealing with is still being investigated," said Cpl.
Chris Bullard.

West Hawk Lake is 130 kilometres east of Winnipeg, on the Manitoba-Ontario
boundary.

The seizure beats the detachment's second largest pot bust by about 200 pounds.

Pot busts of 100 pounds or more are becoming common in the area, and most
are being uncovered at the weigh scale, Pateman said.

"There's only so much you can hide in a car, so the really big ones usually
come from the trucks," he said.

"We have some alert scale operators up there. Because of the nature of
their work they are often inside conducting routine inspections so they are
in a position to run across these every now and then."