$155 MILLION WORTH FOUND PEARSON SETS NEW RECORD FOR SEIZED DRUGS

Hundreds of planes depart from Pearson International Airport (PIA) daily,
but RCMP and Canada Customs officials' drug seizures also soared at the
airport this year.

Officers intercepted $155 million worth of drugs in 2002 and arrested 130
people in connection with drug smuggling.

The dollar value is a 9 per cent decline from the $170 million seized last
year.

Customs spokesperson Mark Butler said tonnes of narcotics were destined for
streets in Mississauga.

"We are consistently keeping more and more drugs off the streets," he said
recently. "If these drugs and perpetrators pass through, Mississauga could
be most affected because it houses the airport."

While dismantling the drug operations is a more complex task, Butler said
the main goal is being accomplished.

"In a lot of cases, we just catch the courier of the drugs, and not the
actual masterminds or sellers," he said. "But the point is we're taking
away the drugs -- what these criminals profit from and use to harm various
communities."

Cocaine accounted for about 65 per cent of the drugs seized. Other
notables, said Butler, were marijuana, hash, heroin and ecstasy.

More than $144 million worth of drugs was seized from arriving passengers,
while the rest was found hidden in cargo and packages.

Along with the seizures came some rather bizarre smuggling attempts this
year, which included:

a 28-year-old female, travelling with her one-year-old son, tried to
smuggle more than two kilograms of cocaine in a pair of fake buttocks in
August;

a 48-year-old male , arriving from Amsterdam in July, tried to sneak in
more than 21,000 ecstasy pills by stuffing them in the bicycle shorts he
was wearing;

a 32-year-old male passenger, who lost his leg in a car crash years ago,
tried to smuggle a kilo of cocaine in his false leg after arriving from
Jamaica in July;

and dozens of foiled attempts to smuggle cocaine by using the ends of
condoms to stash the cocaine pellets, tie them shut, and swallow them.

"We've seen it all here at the airport," said Butler. "But every time we
say that, someone comes up with another original, never-been-done-before idea."

RCMP Sgt. Gary Harvey said Pearson, which saw more than 1,400 drug seizures
this year, has the busiest drug squad in Canada.

"Pearson is definitely a major hub for drug smuggling and more drugs are
seized there than any other airport in Canada," he said.