TIP LEADS TO MASSIVE DRUG BUST

Two months ago, local police promised to push the drug trade out of Kamloops.

On Thursday, they delivered in a big way by seizing 930 pounds of pure B.C.
bud, packaged and ready for shipment.

"Somebody's missing $2.5 million," an officer with the local detachment's
beefed-up drug squad said.

There for the raid on a compound on Kelly Douglas Road in the morning, the
unidentified cop was glad to see police make such a big bust.

"We can't prove it, but common sense would tell you something like this
would have to be linked to organized crime . . . it feels good to get this
quantity."

The size of the loot, and the nature of the shipment, was possibly a first
for Kamloops RCMP, at least in recent memory.

Police surprised and arrested five men in the Valleyview compound, and
seized nine lifts of plywood.

Every cavity in the hollowed-out lifts was stuffed with two to three
over-sized duffel bags filled with vacuum-sealed baggies of marijuana.

"This is a very large and well-thought out operation and, because of the
method being used, police feel that the marijuana was destined for shipment
to the United States," RCMP spokesman Cpl. Mike Stewart said during a media
conference.

Police suspect the shipment would have been ready for transport either that
day or the next.

And while they say the nearly 1,000 pounds of marijuana was worth $2.5
million, it would fetch at least double, if not triple, that price in the
United States.

Police began their investigation just three days prior, acting on a tip
from the public about suspicious activities in the Kelly Douglas Road area.

Stewart said it appeared chainsaws were used on site to hollow out the
plywood lifts.

He said the nature of the operation took local police by surprise.

"This is very different than what we normally see . . . It goes to show you
no matter where you live, this activity goes on."

The five suspects, aged 21 to 38, face drug-related charges.

It's believed all are from Kamloops.