CITY MAN ARRESTED IN DRUG SWEEP

Senior Victimized In Home Invasion In March Among Dozens Arrested

GUELPH -- A Guelph senior who was the victim of a violent home invasion
earlier this year has been rounded up with more than 35 others across
Canada alleged to be part of a major drug-smuggling operation.

Michael Zaduk, 71, has been charged with conspiracy to import a controlled
substance and conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance, but police
have not revealed any details about the man's involvement.

Police in Hamilton, Halifax, Montreal and Toronto are touting the arrests
as a blow to organized crime networks.

RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Michele Paradis could not say if there is any
connection between the man's alleged involvement in drugs and a home
invasion that left him badly beaten last March.

Guelph Police Chief Rob Davis said his investigators had dug "pretty deep"
and did not see any signs the home invasion might have a connection to
drugs. Hamilton's Timothy McKenzie was sentenced to three years in prison
for break, enter and robbery, forcible confinement and aggravated assault
after the March 9 incident at Zaduk's Glengarry Street home.

Court heard McKenzie and another assailant believed Zaduk possessed a large
amount of cash and jewelry.

Zaduk was grabbed, punched and kicked. He was bound with plastic ties and
lost consciousness in the assault, which also left him with a fractured
nose, three missing teeth and memory and vision loss.

Zaduk appeared in a Hamilton court Wednesday with 17 other people arrested
in Ontario by Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Police and the RCMP. Arrest
warrants have been issued for 10 more Ontario residents.

There were more than 30 people in Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia arrested
following a two-year investigation police say has dismantled four major
criminal networks based in Hamilton, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax.

Narcotics seized included marijuana, hashish and cocaine, and police
located several indoor marijuana grow operations in the Hamilton area.

Police say they seized drugs with a street value of more than $95 million,
proceeds of crime in excess of $8.2 million and cash in excess of $200,000
as well as $8,000 U.S.

RCMP Insp. Linda Martel called the investigation the "widest police dragnet
of organized crime in Canada in recent history."