DRUGS THROUGH AIRPORTS

The primary gateway for smuggling illegal drugs into Canada includes all
three major international airports - Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver,
according to a recent RCMP report.

Drug traffic through the airports is so epidemic that airport seizures
accounted for 92 per cent of the heroin, 90 per cent of the ecstasy, 40 per
cent of the cocaine and 40 per cent of the liquid hashish seized in Canada
last year. The presence of organized-crime members has been well established.

In many cases, airport staff have been charged with working for the crime
element. These are not highly paid or highly trained individuals and can be
easily compromised because the money aspect is so great.

Baggage handlers, airline employees, security guards and even a Canada
Customs employee have been found to work as part of drug smuggling rings.
While enforcement officers maintain a program of search and surveillance,
they lack manpower to investigate all employees at airports to determine
where drug shipments have been diverted for organized crime groups.

Policing of airports is complicated involving flow of commercial activity,
the security of travellers, safety of the nation plus the criminal
smuggling element. In spite of all this, there are encouraging results.