TEENS USED AS COCAINE COURIERS

4 Arrested at Pearson

The RCMP and Canada Customs say unscrupulous drug lords are using underaged
Toronto schoolgirls to smuggle dope into the country.

The Mounties said four high schoolers, aged 17 and 18, were arrested at
Pearson airport in the past six weeks trying to smuggle cocaine into Canada.

Const. Larry Foy said three of the young offenders had swallowed anywhere
from 35 to 100 pellets of the drug, with a total street value of more than
$50,000.

He said another was arrested trying to bring in cocaine in the false side
of a suitcase. The teens were returning from Jamaica vacations.

Police said the teens could die if the drug pellets, wrapped in condoms or
the tips of rubber gloves, burst inside their bodies.

"This is a very risky enterprise," Foy said. "These girls are putting their
lives in jeopardy."

He said teens should be wary of anyone offering a free trip.

Customs spokesman Mark Butler said about 100 drug couriers are nabbed at
Pearson every year.

"Some young people are enticed by others to smuggle drugs," Butler said.
"Our officers are experienced and know what to look for."

Swallowing School

Police said the teens are recruited by drug ring members, who give them
spending money and a free trip to Jamaica or other Caribbean islands.

Once there, the teens are shown a good time and then sent to a
drug-swallowing school, where they are told what to eat and how to ingest
drugs.

Meanwhile, police are probing the seizure of 10 kilos of cocaine, worth
about $2 million, found by an aircraft mechanic in the wing of a jet that
had arrived from Jamaica.

Police said the cocaine was placed on the jet by a corrupt cargo handler in
Jamaica, to be picked up by an associate at Pearson.