TICAT CHARGED IN DRUG BUST

6 ARRESTED AFTER FARM RAID

Offensive lineman Mike Mihelic faces three charges.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats offensive lineman Mike Mihelic is among a group of six
people charged after police shut down what they say was a sophisticated
steroid and marijuana production business.

Toronto and Halton police co-operated in a Wednesday raid at a farm
compound south of Milton where they seized 120,000 steroid pills and
hundreds of bottles filled with an injectable liquid form of the drug
commonly used by bodybuilders.

Police say they also seized equipment used to manufacture and package the
pills.

They also took away 700 marijuana plants in various stages of maturity and
hydroponic growing equipment.

Drug officers who carried out the raid were backed up by heavily armed
members of the service's tactical squad.

The steroids, plants and equipment seized were part of what police
described as a sophisticated commercial operation potentially worth
millions of dollars.

Toronto police Detective Mark Clendinning said the marijuana plants were in
different stages of growth and would have a street value of about $650,000.

He said police were still trying to put a dollar figure on the steroids.

A source in the bodybuilding community told The Spectator that pills
typically sell for about $1 apiece, and liquid steroids sell for much more.
He said steroid use appears to be rising.

Police announced yesterday afternoon that charges had been laid.

The laboratory and growing operation was part of a complex of buildings on
First Line south of Milton, where motion sensors, guard dogs and a high
fence protect what otherwise appears to be a typical farm property. No one
appeared to be home late yesterday.

Mihelic, 29, was not at the compound at the time of the raid and was
arrested Wednesday at his home in Mississauga with his fiancee, Patricia
Lincez, 33.

Mihelic, 6-foot-5 and 305 pounds., had recently finished his third season
with the Tiger-Cats and had visited the team's offices earlier the same
day. Coach Ron Lancaster said Mihelic appeared to be relaxed and looking
forward to a break from football.

"He sat in here, and we just kind of talked about things -- what he's doing
in the off-season," Lancaster recalled. "He was saying that now that he's
finally got full usage of his hand back, that he's back in the gym, lifting."

Mihelic, playing his sixth CFL season this year, had missed four games
after breaking his hand during the team's opening game June 29, and played
with a light cast after surgery.

Last year, he missed time with a stress fracture in one of his feet.

"He's a good football player who's been bothered his whole career by
injuries. His is what you would call an injury-filled career," Lancaster
said. "He very seldom could make it through an entire year without being
injured."

Lancaster said he had never known Mihelic to use steroids, which can help
athletes build muscle mass more quickly than they would naturally.

"I've never known Mike -- or anybody -- to come out and admit they use
them," the coach said. "But I'm not dumb enough nor naive enough to think
that somebody back there (in the locker room) isn't using them."

Lancaster distributes a list of club policies on the first day of training
camp. The list makes it clear the team does not condone any use of
narcotics or illegal drugs.

If the charges against Mihelic are proven in court, and he is shown to have
used illegal drugs, the team would expect him to agree to rehabilitation
before returning him to the roster.

"One thing we always have to keep in mind as a professional organization is
that it's easy to cut a guy loose, but that doesn't always solve the
problem," Lancaster said. "I think we'd need to help him a little bit and
make sure he understands."

Mihelic is to enter the option year of his contract next year, meaning the
team has discretion over whether to bring him back.

But Lancaster said that decision would be based on football performance,
not the charges.

"I think you need to help people when you can. We'll wait to see how this
thing plays out."

League vice-president Ed Chalupka said he had no idea how many CFL players
could be using steroids, and knew of no specific cases.

"My thoughts are that it isn't being used until somebody proves to me that
it is," he said. "If I were to make presumptions, it would be wrong for the
league and for myself."

Mihelic is charged with conspiracy to commit an indictable offence,
producing steroids and possession of marijuana. His fiancee is charged with
conspiracy to commit an indictable offence and possession of marijuana.

Also accused are Rui Manuel DaSilva, 34, of Oakville, who faces a total of
seven charges, including conspiracy, possessing proceeds of crime,
possession of steroids for the purpose of trafficking, producing steroids,
and producing and possessing marijuana (two counts).

His father, Alberto DaSilva, 61, of Oakville, is charged with six offences,
including conspiracy, producing and possessing steroids and marijuana, and
careless storage of a weapon.

Christopher D. Humphrey, 35, of London, faces four charges, including
possession of steroids, possession of Ecstacy and the date-rape drug GHB,
possession of the proceeds of crime and possession of a prohibited weapon.

Zorianna Iason, 24, of Oakville is charged with possession of the proceeds
of crime. All appeared in a Toronto court Thursday.