MASSIVE DRUG SEIZURE: HAMILTON MEN CHARGED IN SMUGGLING PLOT

A routine customs check in Halifax has led police to the arrest of four
Hamilton-area men and one of the largest and richest pot seizures in Canada
- -- a haul of 314 kilograms (690 pounds) of cannabis oil hidden in a boat cradle.

Corporal Michele Paradis, of the RCMP in Milton pegged the street value of
the shipment at $12.5 million.

The sheer size of the May 1 bust, which took place in a Burlington hotel
parking lot, is reminiscent of 1992's Project Maple Syrup, which netted 450
kilograms (990 pounds) of the sticky cannabis product in a series of raids
in Florida.

Among those convicted in what police billed as North America's largest hash
oil busts were Hamilton brothers Paul and Andre Gravelle. Their brother
Daniel George Gravelle, 38, of Magnolia Drive, Hamilton, was arrested in
this latest investigation, RCMP Staff Sergeant Keith Milner confirmed yesterday.

Paradis said a joint forces team involving Canada Customs in Halifax, RCMP
from Milton, Hamilton and Halifax, and Halifax city police cooperated in the
discovery and seizure of the resin. The drug was hidden inside a hollow
metal boat cradle, a structure used to support a boat during shipping.

The cradle and drugs arrived by ship from the Caribbean a few days prior to
May 1. Paradis said Canada Customs officers in Halifax found the drug in a
routine check, alerted police but allowed the boat and suspects to continue
on to Ontario.

Milner, whose Milton drug unit made the arrests, said officers trailed the
men to Ontario after the boat was picked up on the East Coast. The arrests
were made at a Holiday Inn parking lot on Harvester Road.

``We arrested the three Hamilton men at that time,'' Milner said.

In addition to Gravelle, police arrested Thomas Walter Lockhart, 59, of
Arthur Street, Hamilton, Alexander Richard Goodbrand, 43, of Beach Road,
Hamilton, and Jon Paul Jennings, 39, of Second Street North, Stoney Creek.

The group faces charges of conspiracy to import a controlled substance,
importing a controlled substance, conspiracy to traffick a controlled
substance, and possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of
trafficking.

Jennings was arrested by Halton police on Aug. 23, 1997, in connection with
a large hydroponic marijuana operation in Hamilton and Oakville.

The growing operation included cannabis-resin manufacturing equipment,
cutting equipment and 940 marijuana plants.

Cannabis resin is a term which includes both the widely available ``weed
oil'' and it's more expensive and potent cousin, hash oil. It is unclear
from police remarks just which of the two substances was seized by police.
Both are manufactured by soaking the marijuana plant in a suitable solvent,
then distilling the result.

The difference lies in which part of the plant is used for the process,
Hamilton-Wentworth Detective Bryan Barker of the drug squad explained yesterday.

Barker took his hat off to the RCMP and customs team.

``By the time it normally gets to us, we're dealing with a lot of five-gram
vials, but nothing in the kilograms. This is a very large bust.''