COPS SAY BIG DRUG RING BUSTED

MONTREAL -- RCMP in Quebec believe they have busted a lucrative drug
business in one of Canada's main corridors for the export of marijuana to
the United States.

Twenty-six people face charges after raids at several properties in the
Eastern Townships, the south shore of Montreal and Toronto.

Among them was suspected ringleader Marc-Andre Cusson of Sutton, Que.,
along with one relative of a full-fledged member of the Hells Angels biker
gang.

Canadian police continued to search yesterday for three other men,
including a U.S. citizen.

Nine people arrested during raids Wednesday were released without charges.

After monitoring Cusson for a year, police charged the self-employed
businessman with conspiracy, commission of an offence for a criminal
organization and instructing commission of an offence for a criminal
organization.

This operation differed from past ones because it netted one of the
suspected organizers of a drug-export business, said Insp. Jacques Tanguay,
the RCMP's commanding officer in southeastern Quebec.

"We have totally destroyed a network that produces, sells and also exports
this cannabis to the United States where they have developed a thriving
market," Tanguay said..

Police searched 40 properties and seized properties, vehicles, boats, a
tractor, a truck, $160,000 in large denominations, explosives and 60 kg of
marijuana.

The RCMP said the largely hydroponic operation sent up to 225 kg of
cannabis to New England states each week, netting tens of millions of
dollars annually.

Scouts recruited sympathetic independent truckers who would transport the
drugs during runs to border states like Massachusetts, Vermont and New
Hampshire. Each trucker could earn nearly $100 per kilogram of cannabis
transported across the border, said Cpl. Roger Caron of the RCMP.