POT BUST ALL IN A DAY'S WORK

Unfamiliar driver aroused trucking inspector's suspicion

In his 23 years working at the West Hawk Lake weigh scales, transport
compliance officer Gordon Hood has seen a lot of weird stuff inspecting
semi-truck trailers.

He's seen smuggled tobacco, bootleg liquor, illegal guns and even a shipment
of inflatable dolls.

Those experiences helped prepare him for what he found last Saturday -- 100
pounds of high-grade marijuana packaged in vacuum-sealed bags, then stuffed
in five large hockey bags and tucked away in a large metal box in the back
of a trailer.

The pot, which was headed for eastern Canada, is now in the hands of RCMP,
and a 30-year Kelowna, B.C. man has been charged with possession of the
purpose of trafficking.

And Hood is being credited for having the smarts to conduct a search of the
truck and enlist the help of the Mounties.

Hood said yesterday with so many years behind him at the Manitoba-Ontario
weigh station, he's come to know a lot of the truckers driving the Trans
Canada Highway. He said by law, all truckers must report to the station and
provide the proper paperwork describing who they are and what they're
hauling.

In this case, the suspect pulled up in a 1993 Freightliner and trailer
Saturday at about 4 p.m.

Hood said he had never seen him before. The man also didn't have a bill of
lading -- the necessary paperwork.

That's when Hood went to work, and called Falcon Lake RCMP Const. Kevin
Mantie to help in doing a search.

Inside the trailer, they found the suspect was hauling several personal
items -- not much else.

When they discovered the hockey bags, that's when Mantie called up a
magistrate in Falcon Lake and got a search warrant. By 11 p.m., it was
signed and a short time later, police seized the marijuana and took a
suspect into custody. In total, police confiscated 184 bags of marijuana,
each weighing about one-half pound -- about 45 kilograms in total. The value
of the drugs is estimated to be about $500,000, but double that if broken
down and sold by the gram on the street.

Mantie said the truck had Manitoba plates and the trailer had B.C. plates.
Both were registered to the accused. Both have been seized under
proceeds-of-crime legislation.

Mantie said police do not know where the marijuana was grown. It could have
been produced locally, or grown in B.C. to be shipped and sold down east.

Police also don't know the quantity of drugs being transported across
Canada. Last week, RCMP seized 36 kilograms of pot from a vehicle travelling
on the Trans Canada Highway near Headingley.

In the more recent case, Harold Bradley Wish, 30, of Kelowna, B.C. has been
charged with possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking under
the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.