LARGEST MARIJUANA SEIZURE EVER AT WEST HAWK STATION

After two major marijuana seizures over the weekend and a third in as
many months, an officer's work at the West Hawk Lake weigh station has
netted more than $7 million of the drug.

Falcon Beach RCMP Cst. Kevin Mantie, a former Ste Anne Police officer,
was highly commended for the multi-million seizures during a press
conference at the RCMP Division 'D' Headquarters in Winnipeg Monday
afternoon.

"This amounts to some very good police work on Cst. Mantie's behalf,"
said Winnipeg RCMP drug section Staff-Sgt. Dave Roach, gesturing to a
wall and table bulging with hockey bags filled will vacuum-packed marijuana.

Mantie shrugged off the accolades and noted that a lot the credit
should deservedly go to the knowledgeable inspectors he works with at
the West Hawk Lake truck scales.

The first seizure occurred on Thursday afternoon at approximately
2:30. His suspicions were aroused by the required paperwork, which
gave him reason to enter the cab.

"I located four hockey bags (inside the cab) and the driver was unable
to establish who owned them. He claimed they weren't his," Mantie
related.

However, the constable could smell marijuana and obtained a search
warrant, netting a dope seizure of more than 200 pounds. The value of
product if sold by the gram on the street is pegged at approximately
$1.8 million.

Balmohan Singh Bolla, 46, of Abbotsford, B.C. has been charged with
possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking. Bolla, working
for an Abbotsford-based transport company, was bound for Ontario.

"There's a large market in Eastern Canada and there's a large
production centre in Western Canada," noted Roach.

Largest seizure ever

Circumstances were quite similar in the second seizure, which occurred
Saturday and saw another Abbotsford-based driver stopped by Mantie at
approximately 2:40 p.m.

Again Mantie's sharp eye scanning the trucker's paperwork and his list
of contents evoked some suspicion, which prompted him to take a look
inside the cab.

He spotted a hockey bag and two hours later located 11 more hockey
bags tucked in a crate inside the trailer, which was also carrying
B.C. cedar.

In total, the 12 bags amounted to 600 pounds of marijuana, making it
the largest seizure ever for Falcon Beach RCMP and the West Hawk weigh
station as well as one of the province's largest seizures.

The high-grade weed, dubbed 'B.C. Bud,' has a street value of about $5
million, Mantie pointed out.

Abbotsford resident John Peter Gauthier, 45, has been charged with
possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking.

Gauthier has since been released from custody; he was granted a $5,000
cash bail on Monday and allowed to return home in an agreement reached
between the Crown and defence lawyer Sheldon Pinx.

Mantie's first pot bust was on Dec. 28, 2002, a seizure of
approximately 100 pounds.

Staff-Sgt. Roach commented the increase in seizures is a sign that
organized crime groups are trying to take advantage of the country's
roads; their objective is to bring the more potent B.C. marijuana to
their eastern markets.

However, the stretch of road near West Hawk Lake is the only east-west
route in Canada, so there's nowhere else for the drug traffickers to
go, he noted.

Experts have estimated the illegal trade of B.C. marijuana could be as
high as $6 billion per year.