Pubdate: Sat, 23 May 2015
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2015 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact: http://www.torontosun.com/letter-to-editor
Website: http://torontosun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Terry Davidson
Page: 4

COPS TO SEND MESSAGE

Will Work With Courier Firms to Help Halt Drug Shipments

Toronto Police will soon be approaching courier companies in efforts 
to address a "concerning trend" around the growing quantities of 
illegal drugs being shipped through commercial transport providers.

Officers with Toronto's Police drug squad made the announcement to 
members of the media Friday, days after making a major drug bust at 
the west-end shipping depot of a national courier company.

Five kilos of cocaine and a kilo of Ketamine with a combined street 
value of $550,000, were seized, as well as $175,000 in cash they 
believe was made through drug dealing.

An "alert" courier company employee flagged an Edmonton-bound package 
Wednesday because of suspicious behaviour on the part of the sender, 
investigators said.

Drugs were discovered hidden within packages of paprika, police said.

A man was arrested after he returned to the depot later that same day 
to ship another package.

A subsequent search of the man's Mercedes allegedly resulted in the 
seizure of the cash, which was discovered stashed in a cardboard box. 
Anh Tung Ly, a 28-year-old Woodbridge resident not previously known 
to police, faces several drug-related charges. "This individual may 
be responsible for shipments previous to those that were 
intercepted," police said.

Toronto Police are now working with other Canadian police forces in 
the investigation.

Drug squad Insp. Howie Page declined to name the courier company 
involved in this case, but he did say investigators will be meeting 
next week with representatives of national courier companies and post 
office officials in efforts to take a bite out of what police are 
calling "a concerning trend."

"We're going to meet with all the courier companies in the next week 
- - including Canada Post - to discuss this to see where ... we can 
perhaps ... form a stronger bond in our joint investigations," Page said.

But he didn't have an answer when asked whether police are satisfied 
with the training courier company employees currently receive when it 
comes to keeping an eye open for suspicious packages.

"I honestly don't have the answer for that because that will be 
something I'm going to deal with when we meet with ... courier 
company security officials," Page said. "I can tell you they do have 
in-house training at the courier companies, but I don't know at what 
level it is."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom