MASSIVE DRUG RING SMASHED

Six Execs Among 65 People Arrested

More than 65 people, including six executives of three Canadian chemical
companies, have been arrested for alleged participation in a massive drug
smuggling ring, the RCMP and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced
yesterday.

The agencies allege the ring was smuggling large quantities of a key
component of methamphetamine -- commonly known as speed -- from Canada into
the United States.

The investigation revealed that massive quantities of pseudoephedrine were
being manufactured in Montreal and stockpiled in Ottawa, RCMP Inspector
Larry Tremblay said yesterday.

The chemical was then smuggled into the United States through various
border crossings in Quebec and Ontario.

Most of the bulk pseudoephedrine shipments from Canada entered the United
States through Detroit in tractor-trailer trucks, often hidden beneath
"cover loads" of legitimate products like bottled water and bubble gum,
police said.

Thousands of kilograms of pseudoephedrine were seized, the agencies said.

The quantity of pseudoephedrine shipped through Ottawa alone could have
produced 300 million individual doses of speed, Tremblay said.

Arrests were made in Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles, Riverside, Calif., New
York, Cincinnati, Gulfport, Miss., and Vancouver, as well as Montreal and
Ottawa, police said. The RCMP charged 11 people with conspiracy to export
pseudoephedrine to the United States.

"Ten of them are under arrest and we expect to have the 11th in custody
soon," Tremblay said.

Quantities of other drugs were also seized in Canada, he said.

"In excess of 200,000 pills were found," he said. "We believe they (the
pills) are methamphetamine, ecstasy, PCP and possibly counterfeit Viagra.
We have sent them to the lab to find out what they are."

Officials of both agencies said the operation -- dubbed Northern Star --
could not have been successful without co-operation between Canadian and
U.S. authorities.

"This investigation was an international effort targeting organizations
that smuggled pseudoephedrine directly from corporations in Canada into the
United States through the Detroit/Windsor border crossing," the DEA said in
a release.

"Today, you have witnessed the power of integrated policing," said Chief
Raf Souccar, RCMP director general of drugs and organized crime.

As part of the investigation, agents targeted six executives from the
Canadian chemical companies G. C. Medical Products, Formulex and Frega,
Inc., the DEA said in a release.

Smuggling pseudoephedrine can be a profitable business, the DEA said.

One box of Canadian pseudoephedrine containing 80,000 60-milligram tablets
can be purchased in Canada for approximately $900 US, the agency said.

After going through two to three brokers, that box of pseudoephedrine would
be sold to speed manufacturers in California for $18,000 to $20,000.

The New York indictment charges that some of these alleged pseudoephedrine
brokers were assisted in laundering their drug proceeds by two people who
transferred proceeds through bank accounts in the Middle East.