CRUISE SHIP COKE BUST A SURPRISE TO CUSTOMS

Drug seizures from cruise ships are not uncommon, but Canada Customs
officers never expected to seize eight-plus kilograms of cocaine from two
passengers last week.

"This is quite a surprise," said Ivan Peterson, chief of Vancouver
commercial operations for Canada Customs. The May 19 haul is worth about
$240,000 if sold by the kilogram on the street.

Of the 34 drug seizures in the past two years from cruise ship passengers
arriving in Vancouver, Peterson said the largest was 15 grams of cocaine.
The others were much smaller quantities of cocaine and marijuana for
passengers' personal use.

Steve Saubert and Sabrina Tremblay of Quebec have been charged with
importing cocaine and possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking
in connection with the seizure. Despite the Crown's request that Tremblay
remain in custody, a provincial court judge granted her bail last Tuesday
while Saubert was expected to have his bail hearing late yesterday.

Customs officers allegedly found the drugs sewn into the couple's clothing,
hidden inside the lining of a carrying case for a laptop computer and in
the lining of a backpack. Peterson said officers had no previous knowledge
of the two prior to their arrival at the port.

Officers seized the drugs after the couple's story didn't add up during an
interview as they disembarked from the ship.

The couple boarded the ship in Fort Lauderdale May 1 and stopped at the
island of Aruba in the Caribbean before going through the Panama Canal to
Costa Rica. The ship then stopped five times in Mexico before moving on to
Los Angeles and Vancouver.

The case has been turned over to the RCMP's drug squad. Sgt. Grant Learned
said details of the investigation, still in its early stages, aren't being
released so as not to jeopardize police efforts.

With the cruise season just beginning, customs officers continue to be on
heightened alert for drug smugglers and other criminals, but it's too early
to tell whether cruise ships will be the latest vehicle used to import
drugs into Vancouver, Peterson said.

"The clearances aren't what they would have been prior to 9/11," said
Peterson, who wouldn't elaborate on beefed-up security measures, beyond
noting the customs' hall at the port operates with an enforcement team and
drug dogs.

"If passengers were looking at cruise ships as sort of an easier way to
smuggle things in, they should probably think twice about it. It's not
really different from going through an airport."

The previous largest seizure of drugs from a cruise ship occurred in May
1996, when customs officers found five kilograms of cocaine concealed in a
nylon bag left at a dance hall aboard a ship. Nobody was arrested in the
case and the drugs were turned over to the RCMP.

Vancouver is a popular destination for cruise ships and a boarding point
for several cruises to Alaska. The majority of ships arriving in Vancouver
from the United States begin their journey in the Caribbean or
Mediterranean, said John Hicke, spokesman for the Vancouver Port Authority.

Last year, 28,467 passengers disembarked in Vancouver from ships
originating in the U.S. or Caribbean. These ships arrived in Vancouver for
the popular Vancouver-to-Alaska run, where a further one million passengers
either disembarked or arrived in Vancouver. The one-million figure also
includes passengers arriving or disembarking in Vancouver during the
Victoria-Seattle-Vancouver cruise.

Traditionally, drugs are smuggled into Vancouver aboard planes and shipping
containers, but the latest case shows anything is possible-if people are
willing to take the risk, Peterson said.

"This would probably change their mind."