DRUG SMUGGLERS ON RISE

International Airport Travel Increase Brings Boost In Incidents

As the Ottawa International Airport and its traffic grow, so does
concern over international drug smugglers infiltrating Canada through
the capital. The Ottawa airport authority is expected to release its
annual report today and for a second year, the number of international
passengers has increased.

But the good news for the airport brings bad news for police and
customs officials.

"(Drug importation) will grow with the number of direct international
destinations," said Leo Vaillant of the RCMP's analytical unit.

Last year about 180,000 international passengers travelled through
Ottawa's airport compared to 170,751 in 2002. While traffic through
the airport was down in 2002, international passengers increased by
16%.

'Talk About Changes'

One of the five main mid-term priorities set out in the 2002 annual
report was to "promote non-stop and direct air service development"
with a target of more than 250,000 international passengers by 2015.

Ottawa Police Chief Vince Bevan met with police members who head
security at the airport as recently as last week to discuss the issue.

"We've had the opportunity to talk about changes they've seen and
changes that they would like to see to make sure that our police
service is doing the best it can to interdict those kinds of
activities," he said.

But even with the projected increases, police have nowhere near the
worries faced by Toronto officers.

With 6.5 million international passengers going through Pearson
airport in Toronto last year -- 36 times more than Ottawa --
authorities seized more than 110 times the amount of drugs seized in
Ottawa.

There were about 35 drug seizures in Ottawa in 2003 with a street
value of about $1.8 million. In the first two months of this year
alone, officers at Pearson seized about 10 times that.

Vaillant warns that local cops shouldn't celebrate these stats since
some of the drugs found at Pearson were likely destined for Ottawa.

More Officers

"As soon as you've cleared customs in Toronto or Montreal, you don't
have another customs point to face," he said, noting the RCMP doesn't
track the ultimate destination of passengers arrested at airports.

To do what they can locally to keep drugs out, Bevan said specific
measures need to be taken to combat smugglers, including increasing
the number of officers at the airport.