Pubdate: Fri, 05 Jul 2002
Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB)
Copyright: 2002, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact:  http://www.fyiedmonton.com/htdocs/edmsun.shtml
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/135
Author: Ross Marowits, Canadian Press

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.
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