$10M IN DRUGS ABANDONED

Pearson airport RCMP and Canada Customs officers suspect an inside worker
got cold feet and fled leaving behind more than $10 million in drugs
waiting to be smuggled into the country.

Pearson drug cops said the seizure was the largest amount of unclaimed
drugs intercepted this year. They said the flow can be curbed if the bags
and vehicles of airport staffers are inspected as they leave work.

The 42 kilos of cocaine, valued at $8.4 million, 50 kilos of marijuana,
valued at $2.2 million and a kilo of hashish, worth $25,000, were found in
four suitcases with no identification tags that arrived last Thursday from
Jamaica.

"It appears someone had cold feet," RCMP Staff-Sgt. Bill Matheson said
yesterday. "Rather than drugs, this could have been anything else." The
Mounties suspect the drugs were placed on a jet by airport workers in
Jamaica and were to have been removed here and smuggled out of Pearson.

Police said airport drug cartel members are given descriptions of the
dope-filled suitcases to smuggle from Pearson by their colleagues in Jamaica.

'Price of Doing Business'

"This appears to be an internal conspiracy attempt that didn't
materialize," Matheson said. "The drug lords view this as the price of
doing business."

Canada Customs spokesman Mark Butler said the drugs may have been abandoned
because of increased Customs presence and luggage checks.

"This was a very significant seizure," Butler said. "It appears someone
lost their nerve."

The Mounties said corrupt workers are paid up to $50,000 for every
drug-filled bag they remove from the airport.