CANADIAN DRUG PROFITS FUND TERROR: RCMP

VANCOUVER (CP) -- A portion of the $20 million (U.S.) worth of hashish
imported into Canada annually financed terrorist groups in Afghanistan and
Pakistan, according to RCMP.

More than 100 tonnes of hashish is brought into Canada every year,
according to a confidential RCMP report obtained under access to
information legislation.

Most of it comes from southwest Asia, particularly Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"This means that approximately $20 million (U.S.) finds its way back to the
producers in the source countries," says the November 2001 report entitled
Narco-terrorism and Canada.

"It is likely that terrorist elements in Afghanistan tax producers, thereby
receiving a portion of the potential proceeds."

U.S. intelligence officials say drug profits have been used to finance
terrorist activities. Ships in the Arabian Sea have been under intense
scrutiny since the war began in Afghanistan in the fall, curbing the flow
of drugs from the Middle East.

There are currently three Canadian ships on patrol in the area, according
to the Department of National Defence.

The Canadian armed forces have apprehended vessels smuggling drugs,
embargoed oil and other illicit materials.

In February, the HMCS Toronto, one of five Canadian warships patrolling the
Arabian Sea at the time, found 90 wrapped packages of drugs. Each was
stamped with the words "Freedom for Afghanistan," according to newspaper
reports.

One to two tonnes of heroin is brought into Canada annually, an amount
worth $10- to $20-million US, says the RCMP criminal intelligence brief.

Most comes from southeast Asia, particularly Burma.

"No large-scale importation of southwest Asian heroin originating in
Afghanistan has been documented recently in Canada," says the report.

According to the United Nations Drug Control Program, Afghanistan produced
4,600 tonnes of opium in 1999 -- 80 per cent of the world supply. Opium is
used to make heroin.

Despite a poppy ban by the former Taliban government, the country produced
3,300 tonnes in 2000 -- 70 per cent of world production.

Production fell to an estimated 185 tonnes in 2001 but the international
body believes that as much as 60 per cent of the Afghani production has
been stockpiled since 1996.

And there are reports that since the fall of the hard-line Taliban
government, Afghani farmers have ripped up wheat crops to plant poppies --
the precursor to heroin and opium.

Coalition forces in Afghanistan will likely target drug production sites,
according to another RCMP report prepared in October 2001.

In 2000, Canadian authorities seized approximately 23,000 kilograms of
hashish and foreign authorities seized nearly 20,000 more en route to Canada.

"There's a certain amount of heroin that generates from that area of the
world," says Det. Court Booth, of the Toronto City Police drug information
unit.

According to an RCMP report entitled The Threat to Canada from Afghani
Heroin, Opium and Hashish, the heroin that arrives from Pakistan and
Afghanistan is brought in mainly through Montreal and Toronto.

Quebec seems to have a larger market for hashish than Ontario, says Booth.

Police and customs agents in Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia seized 19
kilograms of hashish earlier this month as part of the biggest drug bust in
the nation's history.

The report says $30 million and $50 million (U.S.) worth of cocaine is
imported to Canada annually and it earns South American insurgent groups
anywhere from $1.5 million to $7.5 million (U.S.) annually.

"Narcotics have long been used by organized crime and extremist/terrorist
groups as a means to generate revenues to support armed conflict," says the
report.