POLICE RAID MISSISSAUGA MARIJUANA OPERATION

Alleged leaders of a Mississauga-based marijuana-smuggling ring, arrested
yesterday in a series of raids, were living the high life, raking in
millions and driving luxury cars, police said.

Peel Regional Police said the sophisticated network was moving about 450
kilograms of marijuana a month into the United States.

The shipments came to an end yesterday, when officers from Peel and a joint
Toronto Police-RCMP proceeds-of-crime unit executed at least 17 search
warrants , many of them at expensive homes in Mississauga. More than 20
people, who police said were leaders of the network, were arrested.

In addition to seizing about 320 kilograms of marijuana, investigators
found a number of high-priced cars, including two Porsches and a
Mercedes-Benz, along with $2-million in cash and $900,000 worth of jewellery.

"They were living the good life," said Sergeant Todd Moore of Peel Regional
Police.

A seven-month probe that involved U.S. and Canadian customs and the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Agency, as well as Cornwall Mounties and Montreal police,
uncovered the bustling export business.

The operation involved collecting vast quantities of hydroponically grown
marijuana and transporting it east, to the Cornwall Island area, before
smuggling it into the United States.

This narrow stretch of the St. Lawrence River, and the Akwesasne Reserve
that straddles the Canada-U.S. border there, is well known to smugglers,
especially of contraband cigarettes. But border patrols on both sides have
been stepped up since the Sept. 11 attacks.

To outwit authorities, the Mississauga-based ring used specially rigged
snowmobiles and boats with secret compartments to get their product to its
U.S. buyers, police said.

Sgt. Moore said grow houses were not part of yesterday's raids, and he
couldn't say for certain where the marijuana being smuggled across the
border was coming from.

Marijuana grow operations have become an increasing problem for police,
especially in the sprawling Toronto suburbs.

Police did not immediately release the names of the accused or the charges
they would face, saying that raids were continuing yesterday.